Radical, Racist Signs Featured At 9/12 March

This morning(yesterday morning) on ABC’s Good Morning America, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) embraced the protesters at today’s 9/12 March in Washington, DC, saying that he was “glad they’re here to take back their country.” He characterized the attendees as nonpartisan, adding that “it’s not about President Obama. It’s not about the Democrats.” Several other Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Price (GA), Mike Pence (IN), Marsha Blackburn (T), and Phil Gingrey (GA) planned to attend and speak at the event.

Members of ThinkProgress attended today’s march and the signs carried by these protesters were hardly nonpartisan — and were often racist, radical portrayals of Obama, despite DeMint’s claim. Some examples of what we saw:

In an interview with the Washington Independent, DeMint claimed that the attendees at the march were “a cross-section of the population.” When it was pointed out to him that almost everyone there was white, DeMint simply said, “It’s probably just the time and organization and the media that promoted it.”

Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign, has warned conservatives from embracing events like the 9/12 March. “It’s bad for Republicans because in the absence of any real leadership, the freaks fill the void and define the party,” McKinnon said.

Update More signs from the event here, including ones that say, "Thank 'God' 4 Fox" and "Ayn Rand was right." Other signs showed Obama as a "Democratic Socialism" and called him a "bloodsucking...alien." More offensive signs here and here and here.

Update At today's march, DeMint repeated his Waterloo remarks, announcing to the crowd, "Ladies and Gentlemen: Welcome to Waterloo!" He claimed that the health care debate is "a critical battle for the heart and soul of America, and for freedom itself. Freedom fighters are outnumbered in congress, but not in America. If you continue to stand up and speak out, we will save freedom in America."

Update Birthers also showed up today:

Update We saw another protester wearing a t-shirt calling himself a "freedom rider." The real freedom riders were civil rights activists who rode buses into the segregated South in the 1960s:

Update DeMint told Fox News that today's attendees were "informed" and "outraged." "I've never been so proud to be an American," he said. M.C.L comment: For Christ sake tea baggers just say what everybody already know you hate having the N-word as president, because they look like hypocrites they didn't care about personal freedom when Bush was taking white out to the constitution. Another part of their reason for why they don't like President Obama is government spending yet they didn't care when Bush didn't veto one GOP spending bill nor did they care that the Iraqi war on top of tax cuts for the richest two percent were causing the country to slip into the red and why didn't they hold protest rallies when they found out 9 billion in tax payer dollars went missing in Iraq? Lastly they claimed they're being taxed too much, never mind the only people that are looking at tax increases are those lucky few that make over 250,000 a year, but hey somebody gotta have the rich folks back right?