It did not take long for a mainstream media organization to exploit the tragic Sikh temple shootings to link White supremacist groups, of which the shooter was allegedly a part, to the Tea Party.

And of course, the offending organization was the New York Times.

In a story titled, “Music Style Is Called Supremacist Recruiting Tool,” the Times describes how “white power” music, referred to as “hatecore,” acts like a gateway drug to more extreme white supremacist groups and activities. The Times interviews another journalist and gratuitously prints this journalist’s unfounded opinion (which comes across as reported facts) about the Tea Party in another effort to malign the movement and make it out to be something (racist) that it is demonstrably not:

One reason for the disarray might be the growth of a more mainstream movement, the Tea Party, whose successful forays into electoral politics have siphoned energy and support from violent fringe groups, said Chip Berlet, a Boston-based journalist who writes about right-wing groups.

To the writers at New York Times, it is not conceivable that the “white power” music scene may be diminishing because there are fewer people who share those racist views. Instead, the decline has to be falsely attributed to the rise of the Tea Party.