There is no one leader of the Tea Party. However, various spokespersons and self-identified ‘leaders’ have repudiated racism over and over. As have many people who identify with core Tea Party tenets.
It will never be enough. You can repudiate racism until the cows come home and it will never be enough.
The NAACP statement was a marketing ploy to discredit a set of principles that are in opposition to Dem/Lib ideology.
The ploy works by repetition. Make the same claim over and over. Make it in different ways, including in the passsive voice (like the NAACP statement). Blanket the media with it and never let up.
It works best against a group of people who are loosely aligned and do not have a heirarchal structure, no one leader, etc.
No matter how many people step up to repudiate racisim, no matter their stature, you can still keep asking the question ... over and over and over. “Why doesn’t THE Tea Party repudite racism?”. (Begging the question that there is no “THE” Tea Party).
No amount of repudiation will stop the questioning because stopping racism is not the goal. The goal is to cement the words Tea Party + racism in people’s minds to discredit anyone with with differing ideas and to stop debate on issues cold.
Repetitive negative stereotyping of groups of people is a very effective tactic to marginalize them. (Ask blacks, Jews, Latinos, Asians, Christians, Southerners ... on and on).
Excellent post. But the millions of pubs, dems and indies that identify with a TP movement are smart enough to understand out of control government spending and suffocating taxation.
Therefore, they are smart enough to see the branding attempts as political ploys.
I don’t believe the branding propaganda is going to diminish the ranks of the TP movement before they have their say in November;s elections.
Repetitive negative stereotyping of groups of people is a very effective tactic to marginalize them. (Ask blacks, Jews, Latinos, Asians, Christians, Southerners ... on and on).
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This stunt also takes the focus off of the malfeasance and breaches of duty at the corrupt DOJ.