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The Tea Party (The 21st Century edition of the John Birch Society)

  • VIDEO: Tea Party Councilman Holds Sign Featuring Severed Obama Head | ThinkProgress

    A Tea Party councilman is so far defying calls for his resignation after an old video resurfaced that shows him holding signs depicting President Obama’s head on a pike, former Governor Jennifer Granholm with a noose around her neck and Nancy Pelosi with several bullet holes through her face.Paul Smith, a city councilman in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is clearly seen in a 2009 video holding a sign with a photo of President Obama’s dismembered head atop a pike and a caption reading “shit on a stick,”

    To show our governor, our president, the Speaker of the house, what we really think of them. That these people are anti-American, they’re un-American. Basically, they’re worse than any of the enemies America has ever fought against…We fought against communism for 46 years in the cold war, and basically we’ve let a communist in the White House. He’s not just a socialist, he’s an out-and-out communist. He’s taken over the auto industry, he’s taken over the banks. Socialists have high taxes, communists take over businesses, take over ownership. That’s what he’s done, that’s why I’m against him.

    Watch the video here [warning: some of the images are graphic]:

    Smith’s offensive signs were too vulgar even for his fellow protestors, some of whom can be heard accusing Smith of being a set-up trying to make the rest of the crowd look bad (he denied those allegations in the video). He was elected to the city council in 2011.

    The city council responded to the revelations by condemning “the personal viewpoints expressed by Mr. Smith on the signage displayed in the YouTube video and his attempted defense of the disturbing content.”

    Earlier this week, the other members of the city council voted 6-1 in favor of formally asking Smith to resign, though there is nothing to force Smith to acquiesce. And on Thursday, two Secret Service agents visited Smith at his home after someone called the agency to flag Smith’s remarks.

    While I guess the folks who called this councilman a plant to make the Tea Party look bad should be commended instead of criticizing the journalist shouldn’t they have said something to him and driven him out of this rally before this reporter began to report on him?

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