No “racial slurs”? Wash. Times tea partier apparently can't read his own sign
Published
In an article noting reported racial epithets shouted at Democratic officials during a recent Washington, D.C., tea party protest, The Washington Times quoted Dale Robertson, founder of teaparty.org, as saying that Democrats are “trying to label the tea party, but I've never seen any racial slurs.” However, Robertson himself was reportedly kicked out of a 2009 tea party event at which he carried a sign reading, “Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar [sic].”
Wash. Times quotes tea party activist Dale Robertson as saying, “I've never seen any racial slurs” at tea party events
Times quotes Robertson as saying that Democrats are “trying to label the tea party, but I've never seen any racial slurs.” In a March 26 article reporting that "[t]ea partiers moved to distance themselves from the racial and homophobic attacks" against Democrats, The Washington Times' Joseph Curl reported that “Dale Robertson, founder of teaparty.org, said no one knows who might have yelled out racial epithets during" a recent Capitol Hill tea party protest. Curl later quoted Robertson as saying, “These people could be anybody. I wouldn't put it past the Democrats to plant somebody there. ... They're trying to label the tea party, but I've never seen any racial slurs.” From the article:
Tea partiers moved to distance themselves from the racial and homophobic attacks. Organizers of several Florida tea party groups said in a statement that they “stand in stark opposition to any person using derogatory characterizations, threats of violence or disparaging terms toward members of Congress or the president.”
At least 10 reports by congressional Democrats said they were harassed this week after voting for the health care bill. Congressional offices in New York, Arizona and Kansas were vandalized, and several Democrats reported obscenity-laced phone messages.
But Dale Robertson, founder of teaparty.org, said no one knows who might have yelled out racial epithets during the Capitol Hill protest. He said a Democratic lawmaker refused to accompany Capitol Police officers to identify a white man accused of spitting.
“These people could be anybody. I wouldn't put it past the Democrats to plant somebody there,” Mr. Robertson said. “They're trying to label the tea party, but I've never seen any racial slurs.”
However, Robertson was reportedly kicked out of tea party event for carrying sign with racial slur
Washington Independent reported that Robertson was kicked out of 2009 Houston tea party event for carrying sign with racial slur. The Washington Independent's David Weigel reported on January 4 that “Dale Robertson, a Tea Party activist who operates TeaParty.org, is getting stung for an old photo -- taken at the Feb. 27, 2009 Tea Party in Houston -- in which he holds a sign reading 'Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar.' " Weigel also reported that “Josh Parker of the Houston Tea Party Society tells me that Robertson was booted out of the event for this sign.” Weigel included the following picture:
USA Today: Robertson “does not deny carrying the sign.” A February 4 USA Today article reported that Robertson “was repudiated by the Houston Tea Party Society after being photographed holding up a sign with a racial epithet. He does not deny carrying the sign."