Michael C. Moynihan
The Washington Post recently
reported that the Tea Party movement is struggling to overcome accusations of racism some of which has been perpetuated on
The Washington Posts own opinion pages.
New York Times home to the most obsessively anti-Tea Party editorial page in America was stunned to discover that at least 32 African-Americans are running for Congress this year as Republicans the biggest surge since Reconstruction according to party officials.
Previously
The Times reported that Tea Partiers are on average people with a high levels of education and higher than average incomes.
So it would seem that they arent as some editorialists and pundits contend simply a gang of subliterate militia men or as actress Janeane Garofalo recently told MSNBCs Keith Olbermann a subsection of the white power movement.
Wandering the recent Tax Day tea party in Washington DC with
Reason.tvs Meredith Bragg we saw some stupid signs though none that could be considered offensive or racist.
We talked to some people that claimed President Obama was both a Czarist and Bolshevik.
We spoke to a former star of Saturday Night Live who has previously claimed that president might in fact be the anti-Christ. Or a communist. Or both.
There were those who fretted that the United States were morphing into a Stalinist state. But mostly we spoke with protesters concerned that the Obama administration was:
- Spending recklessly;
- Those interested in auditing the Federal Reserve; and
- Various well-informed citizens seething about the General Motors bailout.
So did we discover a Tea Party movement motivated by race by the fact that we now have a black president?
Did it seem as if their stated concerns about a government take over of health care and a ballooning national debt were simply a smokescreen designed to concealing a racist agenda?
Not exactly.
Here is what we found.
