Mark Williams: Kicked out of the Tea Party for 'racism'

The National Tea Party Federation expelled the Tea Party Express and its leader Mark Williams over the weekend, saying his attacks on the NAACP were "clearly offensive." Williams, provoked by NAACP claims that the Tea Party was "racist," had posted a satirical "letter" from NAACP leader Ben Jealous to President Abraham Lincoln, saying "coloreds" preferred slavery to freedom because "freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards." Did Williams go too far? (Watch a CNN report about Williams' expulsion)

The Tea Party is in denial about its racism problem: What hypocrisy, says Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs. First the National Tea Party Federation, which claims to represent 85 Tea Party groups, insists there's no racism in the Tea Party, and that "the NAACP are the real racists." Then the national umbrella group expels Mark Williams for "one of the ugliest racist screeds I’ve ever read," but it still refuses to admit that some of its members are bigots.

"'Tea Party Federation' expels 'Tea Party Express' for nonexistent racism"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Mark Williams is no bigot: "Dear Lord! People, wake up and smell the liberal media manipulation!" says Lloyd Marcus at American Thinker. Mark Williams is "not a racist — far from it." He was merely "making a point about the blatant hypocrisy and backwardness of the NAACP." But the Left's "enforcers" in the media are hanging Williams out to dry because they want you to believe that the Tea Party opposes President Obama's "socialist/progressive agenda" simply because Obama's black.

"Race roils Tea Party movement"

The federation is sacrificing Williams to save itself: If people think Mark Williams is a bigot, it's his own fault, says Juli Weiner at Vanity Fair. After all, this is the man who said Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer is a "Jewish Uncle Tom who would have turned rat on Anne Frank," because Stringer supports the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. But Williams was right when he said the National Tea Party Federation is "grandstanding" — clearly it's throwing Williams under the bus to deflect the NAACP's claim that the Tea Party harbors racists.

"National Tea Party Federation bags Tea Party Express following racist satire"