I think the NAACP may have played the race card once too often.
On Tuesday the organization “adopted a resolution condemning “racist elements” in the Tea Party movement and calling on the movement’s leaders to repudiate bigotry,” as reported by Fox News.
NAACP leaders have referenced an incident in March when Tea Party protesters allegedly hurled racial epithets at black lawmakers on Capitol Hill ahead of a health care vote.
No such incident happened. This is 2010 and the whole scene was videotaped and posted to YouTube. Despite the obvious false nature of the claims, this is used as a basis for the resolution. I’d call it pure Alinsky except that it is a Soviet-era propaganda trick that predates him. Keep repeating a lie until it becomes the truth. Layer lie upon lie and pretty soon the original lie becomes invisible.
Other liberal outlets take up the story and give it depth. The headline in the LA Times reads:
‘Tea party’ lashes back at NAACP over charges of racism:
Candidates and other sympathetic conservative leaders join in defending against assertions that the protest group is linked to white supremacists.
Notice the scare quotes around Tea Party and the phrase “lashes back.” I suspect if the cause were liberal the headline might read “defends itself against charges.” Notice the adjective “sympathetic” to describe those who defend the Tea Party movement. Wouldn’t you expect defenders to be sympathetic? Using that word tends to devalue the support given. And where did the links to white supremacists (and their websites later in the article) come from? Not from the resolution but from the Times.
An even-handed, balanced report–which the LA Times was not–thus gives credence to the outrageous charges and treats it as at least equal to the “denial.” What’s to deny? I’ve been to several rallies and the 912 March on DC; I haven’t heard racial epithets or seen racially motivated signs. Despite the left’s best efforts, the Tea Party movement is not about race, it’s not about what the left wants to talk about, it’s about fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets. Period.
Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler, organizers of the Tea Party Patriots, have written an op-ed piece entitled On Being Labeled as Racist that appeared in Politico today. Read it: it is brilliant.
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