At the annual Sportsman’s Day parade last weekend in Naches, WA (a small town southeast of Seattle), a tea party group called “Remember Us We The People” — which is affiliated with the Tea Party Patriots — sponsored a float that many local residents are “calling offensive and in bad taste”:
Local members of the Tea Party sponsored a float, decorated to look like a Radio Flyer wagon, pulled behind a truck. In that truck a number of people sat holding signs that read everything from “Obama Care” and “Healthcare Take Over” to “Wasted Tax Money.”
But the thing that got people upset was a man in shirt and tie wearing a mask of President Barack Obama. In one hand he held a sign that read “Hey Kids! Thanks for paying out debt!” In the other hand he held a horse riding crop which he snapped at a young teen in front of him pretending to pull the wagon by the handle wearing a shirt that read “Future Tax Payer.”
Watch a video of the float:
“It certainly came across as very racist to me, and really bad manners, bottom line, lack of manners,” said one local resident, adding, “A lack of respect for our presidency and our government, just everything down the line, it was really quite disturbing.”
“Remember Us We The People” president Kirk Groenig said the float “maybe” went “a little too far” but nonetheless complained, “When they don’t like your message, they try to deem you as racist, that’s really unfortunate.”
But John Miles, president of the local Lions Club, which put on the event, disagreed. “There’s respect for the position (of the presidency) and I think (Groenig) exceeded any good taste in his group’s presentation,” he said. (HT: Estate44)