Politics

Rangel: Tea partiers the same ‘white crackers’ who opposed civil rights, people who oppose immigration reform fear non-whites

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New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel called tea partiers “white crackers” in an interview published Friday.

“It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police,” Rangel told The Daily Beast.

“They didn’t care about how they looked. It was just fierce indifference to human life that caused America to say enough is enough,” he continued. “‘I don’t want to see it and I am not a part of it.’ What the hell! If you have to bomb little kids and send dogs out against human beings, give me a break.”

Of Republicans, according to The Daily Beast’s interview, Rangel believes they are more effective than terrorists at harming America’s competiveness.

“What is happening is sabotage,” he said. “Terrorists couldn’t do a better job than the Republicans are doing.”

Nevertheless he did cite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Rep. Peter King as reasonable Republicans.

“Chris Christie, who is a big Northeasterner, and people only go for Christie because he is reasonable. He says something nice about the president helping out Jersey and now he is on the hit list by Republicans,” Rangel told The Daily Beast. “And now my friend Peter King is on their hit list. Peter King, a Republican, is considered a goddamn communist.”

Further, according to Rangel, those who oppose immigration reform are doing so because they fear non-white people.

“Every white son of a gun from Europe has found a way to get here, and these barriers I think have a lot to do with color and the awkwardness or the uncomfortableness that a lot of whites feel about people of color,” Rangel said.

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