The strange case of conservatives calling John Lewis a liar
I just had lunch with John Lewis, the Atlanta congressman and civil rights icon, who finds himself the subject of an unlikely controversy. After Lewis and two other black Democrats reported in late March that they had been the subject of an ugly racial epithet — and worse — by tea party activists as the health care vote neared, some conservative activists struck back by alleging that the name-calling never took place.
Andrew Breitbart, the activist behind the anti-ACORN videos, repeated the allegation in a speech Friday to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. In other words, Lewis was lying. From AP:
It was March 20, near the end of the bitter health care debate, when Reps. John Lewis, Andre Carson and Emanuel Cleaver say that some demonstrators, many of them tea party activists, yelled the N-word as the congressmen walked from House office buildings to the Capitol.
Stung by the charges of racism, conservatives and tea party activists insist it never happened. And one of them is offering big money if anyone can prove it did.
With so many media and citizen cameras at the demonstration, any epithets would have been caught on tape, says Andrew Breitbart. He’s the web entrepreneur who released the video of ACORN workers counseling actors posing as a pimp and prostitute, and has pledged $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund if anyone provides proof of the epithets.
“It didn’t happen,” said Breitbart, who wasn’t there. “This is 2010. Even a racist is media-savvy enough not to yell the N-word.”
It probably doesn’t make any difference to Brietbart that he has his facts wrong:
A reconstruction of the events shows that the conservative challenges largely sprang from a mislabeled video that was shot later in the day.
Breitbart posted two columns on his Web site saying the claims were fabricated. Both led with a 48-second YouTube video showing Lewis, Carson, other Congressional Black Caucus members and staffers leaving the Capitol. Some of the group were videotaping the booing crowd.
Breitbart asked why the epithet was not captured by the black lawmakers’ cameras, and why nobody reacted as if they had heard the slur. He also questioned whether the epithets could have been shouted by liberals planted in the crowd.
But the 48-second video was shot as the group was leaving the Capitol – at least one hour after Lewis, D-Ga., and Carson walked to the Capitol, which is when they said the slurs were used.
Respectable conservatives have had the good sense not to doubt Lewis’ word. (That does not include U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who told an audience, “No witness saw it, it’s not on camera, it’s not on audio.”) Recently, Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said:
“A couple of weeks before the alleged incident occurred, I was walking across the bridge in Selma, Ala., with John Lewis,” said Pence. “I take at face value what John Lewis said. If John Lewis said he heard it, I believe he’s a man of integrity. And I would denounce those kinds of statements in the strongest possible terms.”
For his part, Lewis dismisses the aspersions on his character as “more attempts to demonize” those who disagree with the tea partiers and their supporters. And he stands by his story that the N-word was used several times.
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135 comments Add your comment
Drifter
April 13th, 2010
2:46 pm
I don’t doubt for a second there were a handful of people using the N-word and I’m not surprised at all that any of these people would call Lewis a liar. The rhetoric from the nutty right has gotten extreme. If it’s acceptable to these people that you can call the President a liar while he’s addressing Congress, anything is acceptable.
Peadawg
April 13th, 2010
2:46 pm
You better watch the comments carefully, Cynthia. It may get ugly.
As for using the N-word….blacks use it all the time to each other. So what’s the big deal over others using it?
Peadawg
April 13th, 2010
2:48 pm
Or is the N-word with an ‘a’ at the end different then the N-word with ‘er’ at the end?
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
2:49 pm
Peadawg, As I have written before, I don’t approve of its use by anyone.
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
2:49 pm
Drifter, You make a good point.
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
2:50 pm
BTW, Peadawg, I don’t expect your comments to get ugly.
Peadawg
April 13th, 2010
2:50 pm
Drifter, “If it’s acceptable to these people that you can call the President a liar while he’s addressing Congress, anything is acceptable.”
http:// sayanythingblog. com/ entry/ democrats_heckled_bush_during_speeches_harry_reid_called_him_a_liar/
With all do respect, shut up on the heckling thing. It happens all the time to every President.
Peadawg
April 13th, 2010
2:52 pm
due respect. sorry for the typo.
Drifter
April 13th, 2010
2:59 pm
Well Peadawg, that link didn’t work for me, but if it makes you feel better and someone yelled out that Bush was a liar when he was speaking to Congress, that was equally wrong. But I guess someone who thinks it’s OK to tell another person to “shut up” probably shouldn’t be expected to understand when a little respect is in order.
Peadawg
April 13th, 2010
3:01 pm
Drifter, there are spaces in the link. Take out the spaces and it should work. It’s the only way to get around the blog filter.
Ok, next time I’ll say quit complaining, or quit whining. That better for ya?
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
3:04 pm
Lewis is getting old. Do you think he was just having a senior moment and mistaked this incident for another incident in the past?
You would think with all the video cameras, and the efforts by the left to get Tea Party folks performing such things on camera that someone would have footage by now.
Kamchak
April 13th, 2010
3:06 pm
More from a tea party member.
An online news outlet in New York state has obtained dozens of emails, many of them racist and sexually graphic, which it reports were sent by Carl Paladino, the Tea-Party-backed Republican candidate for governor of New York, to a long list of political and business associates. One email shows a video of an African tribal dance, entitled “Obama Inauguration Rehearsal,” while another depicts hardcore bestiality.
[...]
The news outlet that obtained the emails, WNYmedia.net, a western New York media company, says it confirmed that at least some of the emails were authentic by contacting several people who had received them.
Paladino, a wealthy western New York real-estate developer, has become a darling of the Tea Party movement over the last year, and launched his campaign for governor last week after being urged to do so by Tea Party leaders. Paladino is staunchly opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, and has said he considers himself “the only Republican in the race who agrees 100 percent with conservative values.”
But the slew of emails, obtained by WNYmedia.net, a western New York media company, depict a different side of the candidate.
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
3:07 pm
Calling someone a racist has a similar meaning to rape. You’re guilty until innocent and if falsely accused there is no consequence for the accuser.
People are so fed up with being called a racist that the reaction just isn’t the same as it used to be.
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
3:07 pm
DeKalb Conservative, I had lunch with Lewis today. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with his hearing.
Tommy Maddox
April 13th, 2010
3:14 pm
Why do you think they had that parade into the Capital as opposed to going in via their usual method underground?
They were attempting to have a Kodak moment with all those protesters. There was more videographic analysis done on this charade then there was on the Zapruder film; it did not happen.
It’s just like Pelosi stating that she saw all those swastikas…
Give us a break.
interesting
April 13th, 2010
3:15 pm
So because Lewis was an undoubtedly courageous man involved in the civil rights movement, he is beyond reproach? It is an impossibility that he lied because CT had lunch with him? Lewis is a politician, right?
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
3:15 pm
Tommy Maddox, I’m not sure I understand your point. Are you saying they should not have wanted through the crowd? Are you saying they provoked the crowd?
Drifter
April 13th, 2010
3:16 pm
Got it Peadawg. Regardless of who did it first or who else has done it in the past, it’s wrong. My parents taught me a few basic principles of dignity and respect and I have attempted to pass those along to my children. Call me a relic. Maybe I need to teach a class for Congressmen.
If you don’t want to hear what you call complaining or whining, blogging may not be your thing.
blutto
April 13th, 2010
3:16 pm
CT
I have no reason to doubt Congressman Lewis. On the other hand, until it can be shown that the person or persons who misbehaved were actual “Tea Party” members and not some left wing operatives bent on causing trouble, any statements attributing the slurs to “Tea Party” members are lack facts. To ask “who did it” is not to question yourself or John Lewis. I am sure that you would agree that the “who” is not confirmed even if the “what” is vouched for by Mr. Lewis.
Jethro
April 13th, 2010
3:20 pm
I believe that John Lewis is a man of integrity. And I too would denounce those kinds of statements in the strongest possible terms. I may disagree with his politics, but not with the fiber of his being.
So also would I denounce the “rhetoric” issued by both sides as we have moved away from the arena of civil debate and into the thunderdome of sound bites and gotchas that serve no other purpose than to inflame and silence. For example, Ms. Tucker, you don’t say “some” tea party activists…. You instead paint a broad swath with your pen into which all activists, by default, must fall, so that not only are all tea party participants “activists,” but all activists must bear racial animus. It’s a common ploy used by both liberal and conservative columnists and “spinmeisters” that, in the absence of intelligent discussion, perpetuate a debate by adding rhetoric without substantive facts.
That’s not to say that congressman Lewis is lying. I was not there, I cannot corroborate what may or may not have been said. It is interesting to note, though, how this one little “burp” derailed any substantive difference of opinion by simply saying “you’re a racist tea party activist.”
So on the one hand, it’s fun to see liberals finally getting better at managing spin than conservatives. On the other hand, all it is is spin. Now you have two parties that say nothing and say it well, while the rest of us yell “you liberal communist” or “you conservative Nazi” at each other. Sometimes, reading/watching the news is like reading/watching a professional wrestling promo.
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
3:21 pm
While I don’t doubt Lewis has any hearing issues, I suspect he’s been suffering from “boy who cried wolf syndrom” for years.
If it happened, it is ignorant, and shouldn’t have happened, but so what? This takes the focus away from Lewis acting as a slave owner himself and forcing an entire country into forced labor to fund healthcare reform. Its been weeks since Breitbart put the $10k offer, then upped it to $100k for the United Negro College Fund. No one has come to claim it on behalf of today’s youth, and likely no one will.
Is it a victory for civil rights activists that the tape hasn’t been presented, or a defeat because the United Negro College Fund won’t receive $100k.
Granny Godzilla
April 13th, 2010
3:21 pm
Tommy
Yep, they were going for a Kodak moment and it was a wonderful one.
Keep in mind though that this Kodak moment was the day after after the
initial incident.
Righties
How many fake Andrew Breitbart videos to y’all have to suffer through before you tell the clown to take a walk?
LibraryJim
April 13th, 2010
3:24 pm
Still, a little PROOF would be nice.
And yes, the Pelosi Parade could have taken a different route that did not include wading through the crowds outside. If not a deliberate intention to provoke, it was at least stupidity in action.
interesting
April 13th, 2010
3:25 pm
“Righties
How many fake Andrew Breitbart videos to y’all have to suffer through before you tell the clown to take a walk?”
Granny…have you fallen off your rocker? thats the funniest thing I’ve read all day. You are truly not living in reality…stop it my ribs are hurting!
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
3:26 pm
I feel like this incident should have a JFK-styled Zapruder Film to it. There were enough people around with cameras that you can reconstruct what happened as they marched. Branding this a tea party person is leveraging the same misinformation the Obama administration is so against.
I’d like to think that there is a real potential that maybe Lewis ‘heard something’ say like had a flashback to his civil rights marching days? Another idea is a liberal/progressive trying to provoke the crowd.
Kamchak
April 13th, 2010
3:37 pm
And yes, the Pelosi Parade could have taken a different route that did not include wading through the crowds outside.
Are you saying that it’s Pelosi’s fault because she doesn’t know her place?
T-Town
April 13th, 2010
3:39 pm
I will not doubt Mr. Lewis on what he did or didn’t hear. But, me thinks even if we had a video/audio we would still be arguing who said it and why. If you have any doubts think of the assassination of JFK. We have some video of the incident, but the theories abound. It was the Russians, the Mob, the communists, we had the magic bullet theory and Lee Oswald. Almost 50 years ago and we still can’t/won’t come to some resolution. Do you honestly believe this will be any different?
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
3:45 pm
Cynthia – I know you won’t likely take this up, but if you get the chance, attend the Atlanta Tea Party rally on Thursday.
Might be misleading for you being in the crowd, but you’ll find there aren’t the racial issues in the movement that you’re suggesting. If anything, I think you’d find you are very well welcome. Since the group is fiscally conservative, the President isn’t, and about 95% of African-Americans voted Obama, finding a person in the fringe 5% that’s willing to both stray from the racially social pressures of endorsing Obama, and taking a strong enough stand to be part of the Tea Party is like finding a unicorn. There’s not alot of them in the crowd, but the ones that are there aren’t viewed by the color of their skin, but instead by their actions. I think a contemporary of Lewis might feel this is the right thing to do. I suspect this isn’t reciprocated by the other 95%, whom likely consider these people to be “uncle tom’s.”
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
3:45 pm
Jethro, If it helps, I’m happy to say, “some” tea party activists
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
3:45 pm
blutto, that’s quite a conspiracy theory
Josh
April 13th, 2010
3:48 pm
CT,
I guess you have not seen the report of the crazy liberal loon who created a website to encourage liberals to go to the tea party rallys and “act as a tea partier” and say these nasty words to bring down the credibility of the tea party movement. Or you could be ignoring it because it actually removes any credibility liberals have and proves they are the crazy lunetics. If it sounds like a liberal, acts like a liberal and looks like a liberal. Guess what? Its a liberal. Its just disgusting that liberals do stuff like this and you support it by not condemning this crazy loon for suggesting liberals go out and as tea partiers and say these disgusting words.
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
3:50 pm
@ T-Town
You make a great point. The difference between this and JFK is with JFK we are allowed to make theories, some crazy. In this incident we are going off of one man’s word and despite many more cameras than in JFK’s day, we have no evidence to substantiate the claim. Further, the man we are talking about has risen to power off of usage of the same word he is accusing a person of using today.
We can’t even speculate who is behind this until it can be proven that it occured. There were enough progressive voices and sympathetic media outlets in the area that should have something.
Granny Godzilla
April 13th, 2010
3:53 pm
interesting
I too laugh about Andrew B …..he’s one of Stupid Towns top cartographers.
Mallory
April 13th, 2010
3:56 pm
If it’s acceptable to these people that you can call the President a loser (see Harry Reid on GWB) while he’s addressing T.V. cameras, and a four-star General (Petraeus) a liar while he’s addressing Congress, anything is acceptable.
PearlJam
April 13th, 2010
3:57 pm
Cyntia Tucker talks to John Lewis therefor it’s the truth.
Yet in the videos (which Lewis and company had thier people carry) captured none of it. But ignore all the video.
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
3:58 pm
Josh,
I have seen the web site of said “loon.” I’ve also seen news reports of the racist e-mails of Carl Paladino, the Tea-Party-backed Republican candidate for governor of New York. So I know that actual tea party members are comfortable with racism.
Mallory
April 13th, 2010
4:01 pm
When the President goes on national T.V. and says the Cambridge police acted stupidly after first admitting he didn’t have the facts, anything is possible.
Jethro
April 13th, 2010
4:02 pm
Ms. Tucker,
It does help. Thank you.
John
April 13th, 2010
4:02 pm
ctucker, Bachmann is from Minnesota…
Mallory
April 13th, 2010
4:07 pm
When a registered democrat D.A. Nifong (for black votes) wrongly accuses three lacrosse players of rape, and the mainstream media, throughout the ordeal, sings his praises, anything is possible.
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
4:08 pm
As a movement, the Tea Party is no different than PETA, or the NRA. If you have the same viewpoints of being fiscally conservative, then the Tea Party will back you. If you stray and want big government, big spending and big taxes, then they’ll be against you. It is that simple.
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
4:09 pm
Mallory, what does the Duke rape case have to do with my post?
ctucker
April 13th, 2010
4:09 pm
oops. Thanks, John. I’m always falsely accusing Wisconsin. I’ll correct that
Ragnar Danneskjöld
April 13th, 2010
4:10 pm
Dear Cynthia @ 3:58, “I’ve also seen news reports of the racist e-mails of Carl Paladino, the Tea-Party-backed Republican candidate for governor of New York. So I know that actual tea party members are comfortable with racism.” With all due respect, are you not painting with a broad brush? Because I’ve seen news reports that a Senator from West Virginia was a member of the KKK, I know actual democrats are comfortable with the Ku Klux Klan.
Rita
April 13th, 2010
4:11 pm
“I guess you have not seen the report of the crazy liberal loon who created a website to encourage liberals to go to the tea party rallys and “act as a tea partier” and say these nasty words to bring down the credibility of the tea party movement.” A-HA! I wondered why the tea party rallies featured so many Hitler mustache/witch doctor Obama posters, misspelled “socilist” signs, and Facist/Marxist references to Obama ON THE SAME SIGN! Now it is so clear. It’s those liberal infiltrators POSING as tea partiers that are making the tea partiers look like learning-impaired hillbillies.
DeKalb Conservative
April 13th, 2010
4:12 pm
Just thought of this… Progressives, please answer this…
Let’s assume, someone yelled the n-word at Lewis. What happens if the person yelling it was black? The assumption has always been that this person was white. No tape, no person, no proof. Until a tape is produced, we cannot rule out the person yelling it was black him/herself–
- what if the person yelling it was black against Lewis?
- what if the person for Lewis and Healthcare Reform and was showing support?
Mallory
April 13th, 2010
4:15 pm
“what does the Duke rape case have to do with my post?”
Comparing bad apples to bad apples is all.
When AB is accused of throwing eggs at the Tea Party Express buses when, in fact, it was the people who opposed the Tea Partiers and there is no coverage by the lamestream media of THE BIG LIE, anything is possible.
Jahmar
April 13th, 2010
4:16 pm
@Peadawg
This is the exact reason why I do not believe that blacks and whites will ever truly get along in this country. We just do not understand each other. For a lot of black ppl this word’s exclusion is simply understood. It confounds us when white ppl make the argument that you make. I really cannot stress how much it CONFOUNDS us when white ppl believe they can justify its use in any way shape or form.
It’s psychology. Many black ppl are simply habituated when they here other blacks say it, so they feel no strong emotion. I mean why would you if you hear other blacks say it all the time. However, when whites say it a strong emotional chemical reaction is set off for most blacks by the amygdala in the brain. The historical use of the word AUTOMATICALLY gets us aroused. Feelings from complete anger, confusion, and that sensation you get when a roller-coaster falls and your stomach drops ensue.
If you are white it is simply not socially acceptable to use the word(at least around us black folk) you keep asking us not to get mad, but that is an truly an impossible request to make.
The -er and the -a is only different for blacks and not whites. Why? Because society instructs what is right and what is wrong. If the majority of black ppl get mad(which I noted earlier is inescapable) then its wrong. Ex. A man walks into a conservative setting with all pink on. Men wearing pink is not inherently wrong. There are no religious text forbidding it. But, in a setting where ppl do not approve of it, it is wrong. The only way to change that is to change ppls minds. Which I noted earlier… that is not going to happen.
Stop assuming that ALL blacks approve of the words use. This is ESPECIALLY unpopular with the older black population. Their are also blacks from other parts of the world who did not grow up in a black American sub culture. Who do not condone its use.
Lastly why would a white person even want to say the word if not for a racist intention. I cannot even think of a situation in which it would be funny, couth, or even cool.
Although I believe you were being sarcastic and you couldn’t care less what a Blk person thinks or feels I just wanted that to be said in order to clear up any confusion.
T-Town
April 13th, 2010
4:18 pm
DC, Go one step further: a Latino or Asian American. It still wouldn’t make it right, but it is thought provoking.
vracer
April 13th, 2010
4:19 pm
Charlatans have used the “walk through their angry crowd to provoke and incident” many times in the past. In this case it failed. No proof. He lied.