Civility and calls for civil discourse have long been talking points for the Democrats. Their hypocrisy, however, has been pronounced. For evidence, Floridians need to look no further than Alan Grayson, the “king of outrageous statements” and the Democrats’ front-runner in the 2016 U.S. Senate race.
Grayson has recently launched a major fundraising push, which focuses on the tea party movement -- or in his words, “the ugly, racist fringe of American politics.”
Those vitriolic comments came just hours before one of Hillary Clinton’s rare press conferences on Thursday. While at the podium, Hillary was asked about a comment that a random Donald Trump supporter made at a rally, falsely claiming that President Obama was not a Christian.
Clinton reacted with the typical faux-outrage that has become so common of Democrats, insisting that Donald Trump should be held responsible for his supporter’s comment. She demanded that Trump should have “repudiated that kind of rhetoric.”
But here we have a sitting member of Congress, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, and the party’s standard-bearer in Florida, hatefully attacking the tea party movement, once again, yet the Democrat party leaders just sit silently by -- the unfortunate irony of this blatant hypocrisy should be lost on no one.
And this type of rhetoric is not new for Grayson. He has been caught calling a female he didn’t like a “whore;” he called Vice President Dick Cheney a vampire; and he called a reporter that asked him a question a “sh-tting robot.”
But for some reason (maybe because it raises money from his donors) the tea party has become Grayson’s No. 1 enemy. Even though he usually resorts to using half-decade-old attacks, he rarely gets his facts straight. He also has shown no effort to actually understand the tea party movement, even though we enjoy widespread support throughout Florida from not only Republicans, but independents and Democrats alike.
The tea party movement rose up in 2009 to oppose the out-of-control spending that has occurred under both parties and a government that has grown too big and too intrusive into the lives of its citizens.
Tea party activists have called for the reductions of regulations that have prevented entrepreneurs from creating jobs, in addition to a complete overhaul or even repeal of America’s 70,000-page tax code. It’s a movement that’s most simply defined the pursuit of policies, which promote economic prosperity and fiscal responsibility for all Americans.
With Obama and Grayson in office, the life for average Americans, especially minorities, has gotten worse, not better. The tea party’s positive economic message is just as important today as it was in 2009.
Have people made wacky comments under the banner of the tea party? Sure, but we swiftly kicked them to the curb. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the Democrats.
Not even close.
In today’s Democratic Party you can’t even say, “all lives matter,” but there seems to be no problem with comparing the tea party to murderous organizations like the KKK or standing outside a police department chanting, “Oink, Oink … Bang, Bang” and “pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.”
Alan Grayson epitomizes the disease that currently plagues the Democratic Party. The Democrats choose to embrace incendiary people and organizations like Alan Grayson, Black Lives Matter radicals, and the Occupy Wall Street movement, instead of approaching issues with a level-head and civil rhetoric.
This is truly a sad state of affairs for the Democratic Party.
Talk is cheap, but civility isn’t. It takes courage and integrity to deal with your own demons. Instead of repudiating divisive and repulsive rhetoric like Hillary Clinton lectures about from the podium, she joins her party in its complacency.
It’s time for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats to put some meaning behind their talking points. Don’t just preach civility to others, demand it within your own party and from your own candidates. It’s time for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party to unite with the tea party movement in calling for civility by demanding that Alan Grayson withdraw from Florida’s U.S. Senate race and leave the race to more mature candidates.
Taylor Budowich is the executive director of Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest tea party political action committee.
