Rangel: It’s ‘Painful’ to See the Racist Tea Party Direct Their ‘Hate’ at Holder and Obama

‘Whenever this group gets together against Obama, the Confederate Flag is there with them’

RANGEL: "Good morning, Chris."
JANSING: "You know what it is to break through. You were the first African-American chair of the influential House ways and means committee. What do you think about Eric Holder had to say?"
RANGEL:  "It was painful to hear that. It was so painful to hear when President Obama first got elected that the Republican Party -- which is the other wing of democracy -- said their first job was to get rid of him. And then it built up and we saw what happened to Eric Holder. And then it became a issue that no matter what this president wanted, the hatred had built up to such an intensity that they would vote no. No for a debt ceiling, no for health care. So it seems to me that if you were to follow where the slave-holding states were and where the confederate flag flown, you would see even today not only Obama's most serious critics, but those people that don't abide by the Voting Rights Act even today. So it's a painful thing to see with all of the progress we've made that a handful of people with so much hatred in their heart are willing to take this great Congress and country down because of that. But what happened to Eric Holder and what happens every day with the president is not their personality. This is what some people in our country are doing to ourselves."
JANSING: "You know what the pushback has been on this discussion. It's been -- this is politics, it's how politics is played and if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. In fact, the Washington Free Beacon says Eric Holder played the race card. What would you say to those who are pushing back?"
RANGEL:  "I would say if there's anyone that believes that the color of the president is not an issue with those people who adamantly oppose them -- they're not realistic. It is unfortunate. After all, he did get elected. But all it takes is for someone, a group -- they call themselves the Tea Party -- to be able to impede the good Republicans from cooperating the way they should with Democrats so that at the end of the day the country succeeds. But if you notice whenever this group gets together against Obama, the confederate flag is there with them. When I was involved in civil rights struggles and the communists were trying to get in, we would tell them 'you get yourself another corner, this is the civil rights demonstration.' They don't do that with the confederates."

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