Howard Dean: One Last Scream

Somebody forgot to tell Howard Dean that the talking point of "racist tea partiers" has long been retired, especially as the NAACP put up a whole web site devoted to rooting out this alleged sickness in our electorate, and wound up abandoning the project due to...lack of material.

That doesn't stop crazy old Uncle Howard, who came out screaming the other day about old, racist tea-partiers taking out their hatreds on the poor Democratic Congress:

Speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean shared his thoughts on the Tea Party.

“I think it’s the last gasp of the 55-year-old generation,” said Dean, who was also chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005-2009. “Older folks have seen their life change dramatically. The country’s not the same.”

“Every morning when they see the president, they are reminded that things are totally different than they were when they were born,” he continued. “The economy, and the uncertainty of the economy fuels [the Tea Party movement], but this is the last gasp of a generation that has trouble with diversity.”

Dean argued that the Tea Party has a problem with the younger generations. “You all have friends of different races, different religions, and different sexual orientations, and you all date each other,” he said to hypothetical members of the “new” generation. “Well that’s not how I grew up, and that’s not how the Tea Party grew up. The Tea Party is almost entirely over 55 and white. And the country has changed dramatically as a result of what happened in 2008.”

Well, virtually all the above information is demonstrably false (go to the link to see the true demographic data on the Tea Party; the ageism accusation is just laughable, see here), but I suppose making shit up is much easier than admitting everything you ever believed in and championed was wrong, and that your party was justifiably removed from power after abusing it with a irrational, unconstitutional governing philosophy. Much, much easier to call you fellow Americans racist than to call them...correct.

But Dean does give us a little hankie for which to wipe his toxic spittle:

Dean was sure to clarify, however, that he does not think the majority of Tea Party supporters are racist or bigoted.

Cognitive dissonance, anyone?

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. It is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.

In a state of dissonance, people may feel surprise, dread, guilt, anger, or embarrassment. People are biased to think of their choices as correct, despite any contrary evidence. This bias gives dissonance theory its predictive power, shedding light on otherwise puzzling irrational and destructive behavior...

Or maybe it's just another liberal Spinal Tap moment:

David St. Hubbins: We say, "Love your brother." We don't say it really, but...
Nigel Tufnel: We don't literally say it.
David St. Hubbins: No, we don't say it.
Nigel Tufnel: We don't really, literally mean it.
David St. Hubbins: No, we don't believe it either, but...
Nigel Tufnel: But we're not racists.
David St. Hubbins: But that message should be clear, anyway.
Nigel Tufnel: We're anything but racists.