(July 9, 2014 at 5:40 pm)A Theist Wrote: No. The Tea Party is not a racist movement. If you want to continue convincing yourself of that then you're going to have to account for the Black membership within the movement, and why Tea Party groups endorse Black candidates like Alan West, i.e., for politcal office. What about the "Occupy Wall Street" movement...would you consider the movement to be racist just because it was endorsed by the "American Nazi Party"?
I concede that I was a little loose with the absolute position that the Tea Party in and of itself is a racist organization. I don't think however it can be disputed that the Tea Party has attracted a vocal, and for the Tea Party embarrassing, racist element.
My problem with the more prominent Tea Party leaders is that they don't work to stamp out this part of the movement. I can't bring myself to conclude that this amounts to tacit approval of the racist fringe of the Tea Party, but it does smack of a level of tolerance for the sake of ensuring their vote.
