Former Geico Announcer Lance Baxter Lashes Out at ‘Tea-Baggers’

Recently-fired Geico voiceover actor Lance Baxter has posted a video response to all of the “tea-baggers” who got him fired for leaving a message on Freedomworks’ voicemail asking what percentage of the Tea Party were “mentally retarded,” and how they would spin it when one of them finally killed someone. While he may have a decent point or two, Baxter is in no position to play the hero here.

His response was to post a video featuring voicemails he received in the wake of the incident, along with photos of some of the Tea Party’s greatest protest sign hits. The voicemails aren’t very revealing, so I guess the idea is that the photos are intended to rebut the protestations of the callers.

Despite Baxter’s nod to political correctness by saying “mentally retarded” instead of “retard,” he’s not really entitled to the moral high ground here. The voicemail he left for Freedomworks, who have made a concerted effort to keep the ugliness out of their events, was childish wiseassery, nothing more. Also, note to Lance and the rest of the left: the term “tea-bagger” has outlived its usefulness, and now serves only to buttress the Tea Party’s sense of persecution. It was clever for 5 minutes, but to the rest of the world, it just seems douche-y now.

However, publishing his phone number and going after his job were disproportionate and dirty actions. Additionally, the Tea Party’s effort at cleansing its image is undermined by their refusal to admit there was ever a problem, something Baxter’s litany of “isolated incidents” underscores. Aside from our old pal Dale Robertson, the rest of these folks seemed pretty welcome at their Tea Parties, and they continue to deal with the ugliness on Capitol Hill by calling civil rights hero John Lewis a liar.

This doubling-down is not likely to help Baxter much. Perhaps he’s counting on goodwill from fellow Hollywood Tea Party opponents to get him through this, but as Freedomworks has already demonstrated, the Tea Party has ample time and energy to devote to getting him fired again.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.