RADICAL RIGHT  — GOP LAWMAKERS DEFEND TEA PARTY PROTESTERS’ RACIAL, HOMOPHOBIC SLURS: Tea party activists protesting health care reform on Capitol Hill this weekend   hurled racist and homophobic slurs at members of Congress who planned on voting for the measure. Protesters chanted “the N-word, 15 times” at Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), a hero of the civil rights movement, and his colleague Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN). Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) was spit on, and someone yelled f—-t at openly-gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) as he walked through the Capitol complex on Saturday. Leaders of the Republican Party spent Sunday distancing themselves from from the outbursts. “Nobody condones that at all. There were 30,000 people here in Washington yesterday. And, yes, there were some very awful things said,” stated Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) on ABC. But some Republican members of Congress defended the protesters’ behavior. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said Sunday that the remarks were understandable in light of “totalitarian tactics” used by Democrats that cause people to “begin to act crazy.” Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who was the sole dissenting vote against recognizing the use of slave labor in the construction of the U.S. Capitol, implied that the homophobic and racial slurs were “no big deal.” “I just don’t think it’s anything,” King said, adding that focusing on the incidents obscures “something that is determined to undermine the people.” King also claimed that he faced the same discrimination as the African-American and openly gay lawmakers. “There are a lot of places in this country that I couldn’t walk through,” King told Roll Call. “I wouldn’t live to get to the other end of it.”