The confusion by some Tea Partiers to outrage over a coffin being brought to the house of Rep. Russ Carnahan is educational for the rest of us. What might strike reasonable people as a threat against Carnahan is explained away by those who did it as an innocent prop that expresses their anguish over how the new health care law will do in "millions" of Americans. And you know what? I believe them. I actually think they were not threatening the congressman but instead were driving home a point in the clumsy, gory way they're accustomed to. And with the press finally taking a good look at these folks, they will be portrayed as violent kooks regardless of whether they're actually completely harmless. The reason is that they have set a trap for themselves. By soaking their movement in blood imagery and the language of death they have set themselves up to be even further marginalized.
Obviously there are truly violent psychopaths in the Tea Party world. These are the folks who cut gas lines, throw bricks and threaten politicians. But they are a fringe of a fringe. They see their moment with the Tea Party movement, just like they did back in the '90s with the whole Angry White Male garbage, and are seizing it. These people need to be watched closely.
But the vast majority of Tea Partiers are nonviolent. They're all bark and no bite. As they've seen for the last year, the mainstream press views most of their bluster as just that. But a few shouters at a town hall meeting doesn't provide much of a peek into what these folks are really like. Now that HCR has passed, they're becoming even more desperate. I have no doubt we'll see similar events to the Carnahan coffin incident. And each time, they will come off like blood-crazed lunatics.
I have in-laws who are pretty hard core right wing. They watch Fox only and consider Human Events a mainstream publication. What you learn by observing this world is just how bloody their vernacular is. A reason death panels resonated so much with these folks is because it fit into their apocalyptic world view. So even though they may be harmless, when my in-laws interface with others like them, they talk of coffins, Armageddon, mutilated babies, etc. They think the guy who stands in front of the Planned Parenthood with enormous pictures of aborted fetuses is sweet. The fact he drives around in a truck festooned with such photos in no way makes them question whether he's such a nice, holy person. A lot of this has to do with fundamentalist Christianity, be in Protestant or the conservative strain of Catholicism that is fervently working to bring back the Latin Mass.
Now that the traditional Tea Party events have run their course and become boring to the media, these folks are getting more creative. They're letting their freak flag fly. And what I think they don't comprehend is that the very language (visual as well as spoken) they use is frightening to the average American. So when they show up at a protest with a coffin, they no longer are the salt of the earth everyman the media created last year. They are scary, violent crazy people who are loosing their shit over a bill that looks pretty damn innocent now that it's passed. And they're helpless to change this. As long as they are able to freely express themselves, they will only make things worse for themselves. This is a stretch as an analogy, but think of all the Free Mumia signs that pop up at anti-war rallies. To folks in that circle of the Left, calling for the release of a convicted cop killer seems perfectly reasonable. To the media and the mainstream of society, it makes them look crazy.
I believe things will only get much worse for the Tea Party movement before it gets better. We've reached a tipping point. When the debate comes on financial reform or jobs or immigration, they will crank up their machine expecting to be treated like they were last August. But instead of cheering them, even the feckless MSM will instead wag their finger and crucify them in the press. And considering their obsession with blood, this perversely might be something they kind of like.