Paul Krugman, in his Christmas day column discussing the health-care bill, talked about why various factions were opposing it.
"But, with few exceptions, the fiscal scolds have had nothing good to
say about the bill. And in the process they have revealed that their
alleged concern about deficits is, well, humbug. As Slate’s Daniel
Gross says, what really motivates them is “the haunting fear that
someone, somewhere, is receiving social insurance.”
But let's get more specific about who the someone/somewhere might be, like Rush Limbaugh did back in May, giving the hornet's nest a good kick:
"This is the objective. The objective is unemployment. The objective is
more food stamp benefits. The objective is more unemployment benefits.
The objective is an expanding welfare state. And the objective is to
take the nation’s wealth and return to it to the nation’s quote,
“rightful owners.” Think reparations. Think forced reparations here if
you want to understand what actually is going on."
That's right. Worse than "The Negroes stole our dates!" The blog Jack & Jill said, "The Niggers are coming for their reparations", but I don't think it's that simple either.
Rather, it's the feeling that someone is getting something they don't deserve, haven't worked for, etc. Now, that's crazy too - but racism, except for the real Aryan Nation types is rarely just about skin color. It's mixed up with class, economics, etc. It's pretty hard to separate out the different colors of Play-Doh once you mash it together, and the Republicans have spent the last 40 years making sure of it.
It's all about resentment and fear and politics as a zero-sum game. The feeling they were clinging to the ladder at least one rung above the other guy, even if both of them were under water. But in these tough times, with you-know-who, who's a-you-know-what as President...
FYI, I remember reading somewhere that the young white woman shown in the picture up top yelling, several years ago had the opportunity to meet the black student, and apologized to her.