Bad Mannered Conservatives? Shocking!

"To have respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others governs our manners." ~ Lawrence Sterne

I know this is old news. I understand that I'm very late with my commentary on this spitting on Congressman Emanuel Cleaver incident.

But I've read several points of view about this, and I have yet to see anyone address it from my perspective. So here goes:

Below is the video of the aforementioned incident:



Notice, in the video, Rep. Cleaver reacts to something that caused him to draw back and turn his head in the direction of one particular protester. He then addresses a police officer directly behind him and points at the man. Shortly afterward, he appears to be wiping something off his face. A few seconds after this, he returns to where the incident supposedly took place with another police officer, and appears to be searching for the culprit in an apparent effort to point him out to the policeman.

Obviously, something happened!

I might add, at this point, in the video, nobody can be heard shouting any racial epithets at all, although the volume is high and very clear.

I know Conservatives have been defending the tea party protesters by insisting the charges of racism and spitting are fabricated, and did not, could not, happen at all.

I say, Representative Cleaver probably did get spit on. And, I believe it was intentional.

There were thousands (or as MSNBC would say, dozens) of protesters on the scene. Why would it be difficult to believe there wouldn't be one or two jerks in the crowd?

Look, Personally, I think anyone who spits in public displays little or no class at all, even if he only spits on the sidewalk. I find that particular behavior disgusting. It is my position that one who spits in public wasn't brought up well.

But that's just me. I am funny that way.

The fact that one or two people attending these tea parties might be classless hicks is not a logic-defying deduction. People of all stripes attend these protests. It isn't shocking that there may be people with no manners there.

I do not condone spitting on any one for any reason.

And, Obama's health care reform is an extremely volatile issue. It would not be the least bit surprising that many of the people attending the protest could let their passions overrule their common sense.

So, could it happen? Absolutely.

Did it happen? Very likely.

I also don't doubt that there may have been one or two racial epithets hurled at the protest. Of course, that accusation would be more believable if it were a Democrat rally.

Although, if MSNBC really wanted to convince people that there actually were (without proof) racial epithets, they would be more convincing if they simply reported the numbers more accurately.

More people, more chance that incidents such as this could happen.

All that said, wouldn't the tea partiers use a better defense if they were to focus on the thousands of people who didn't spit or shout racial epithets, rather than to deny it could have happened at all?

Incidentally, I could use the old, "Well, if you think that's bad look what your side does regularly" type of defense, but that is disingenuous.

As my father would say(and often did), "Two wrongs don't make a right".

Let's be honest. More than likely, a few bad mannered people were numbered among the thousands of protesters at the tea party protesting Obama's America killing health care reform bill. There are a few Democrats that don't like the health reform bill, too, you know.

And, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising or even shocking, that one or two out of the thousands in attendance exhibited some ill advised behavior.

But, look at the thousands that behaved themselves.

Now, that's the real story.