Coakley vs. Brown

Saints on the Loose! is not a political blog and I don't intend for it to become one. I will comment on political issues only when they shed light on a point that I'm trying to make. As a traditional Baptist, I have a very HEALTHY distrust of politics and politicians. Though some have forgotten, we have always strongly believed in the separation of church and state. Sometimes though, you just have to say something.

Martha Coakley, a Democrat, and Scott Brown, a Republican, are engaged in a very intense race for the US Senatorial seat vacated by the death of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. As the race has tightened, Ms. Coakley seems to have become abusive and derisive toward Brown. She recently referred to him as an extreme right wing teabagger. The term has also been used by leftist poliltical commentatotrs such as Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Anderson Cooper.

"Teabagger" was a reference to the 2009 Tea Party protests which arose to oppose the tax and spending policies of the Democrat-controlled United States government. "Tea Party" was a reference to the Boston Tea Party in which a group of men stormed a ship and threw its cargo of tea into Boston Harbor to protest King George's excessive taxation policy.

Using the word "teabagger" as an insult exposes what radio and television commentator Glen Beck spoke of on 15 Jan 2009. This is an offensive word and is so, especially, since some conservatives have adopted it without knowing its origin, which Beck declined to elaborate upon. I think adults can handle the truth so here is the explanation.

"Teabagging" is a slang term referring to a sexual act in which a man repeatedly places his scrotum into the mouth or on the face of another person, like dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea. In pornography, the act is a form of sado-masochism stressing male dominance and erotic humiliation. In its political usage, the term is an insult because it implies that those against whom it is directed are too stupid or innocent (read as "naive") to know what it means. Why, some of them even use it of themselves.

Recently, I had to tell an Indian co-worker why others were quietly giggling as he ran around searching and saying, "I lost my lunch! I lost my lunch!" When conservatives proudly declare, "I'm a teabagger!," progressives are silently giggling.