The reports on the alleged and now in question hurling of racial epithets by Tea Party protestors is now entering Twilight Zone territory.
But this we know.
John Lewis of Georgia, heard nothing.
Dana Bash of CNN didn't personally hear anything.
No Politico reporter was there to report live.
No video from the cellphones of black staffers has been released.
The incidents regarding Barney Frank is in question, with some people saying Barney cursed at protesters, and then an unaffiliated man ran up and called him a name.
We do know two people who claim they heard multiple chants both representatives. MSNBC reported:
"Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., told a reporter that as he left the Cannon House Office Building with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights era, some among the crowd chanted "the N-word, the N-word, 15 times."
The Kansas City Star reported:
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said he was a few yards behind Lewis and distinctly heard "nigger."
"It was a chorus," Cleaver said. "In a way, I feel sorry for those people who are doing this nasty stuff - they're being whipped up. I decided I wouldn't be angry with any of them."
We know from the video record that this absolutely didn't happen. The video evidence explicitly denies this happened. The entire procession is on camera from different angles and different spots in the crowd, and nowhere has anyone located a mass chanting.
On one video on YouTube, some commenters claim to hear it muffled once, but you really have to want to believe it. Multiple people disagree. What is clear, is there was no chanting, no chorus, and no repeated use of the n-word. If indeed it happened, which I still doubt, it was a single isolated incident.
If so, why did Representatives Cleaver and Carson claim the crowd was chanting the word at them? There is no way to spin this. No matter what Cleaver think he heard, he lied to a reporter about it to make it appear the crowd of thousands was motivated by racism. And then he pivots and compares health care to civil rights, pretending to be a noble man above it all.
This conclusively makes both he and Carson people willing to lie and use accusations of racism to advance a political cause. That is the very definition of a race baiter.
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