Oh, dear, another sting:

NPR is distancing itself from remarks made by a fund-raising executive who said the American "tea party" movement is a comprised of "white, middle-America gun-toting" and "seriously racist, racist" people.



The comments, apparently made by Ron Schiller, NPR's exiting vice president for development, were recorded in a "sting" set up by conservative activist James O'Keefe, best known for mounting a similar prank on ACORN...



Schiller also says NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding" and that that the tea party is a movement that is "fanatically involved in people's lives," "fundamentalist Christian" and "xenophobic" and that it has "hijacked" the Republican Party.

..

I don't think either edge of the political spectrum should pretend that its passionate partisans speak fairly and with a generous spirit about the other side when they believe themselves to be among friends. But it really is appalling how easily Schiller seems to have let his guard down here in front of people he'd just met.

He's leaving NPR, but I think he ought to try to chalk it all up to a slip of the tongue, sort of like that smarmy phony Mike Huckabee did last week when he was recorded on a radio program referring to President Obama having been raised by his father in Kenya.

Everyone else is now on notice that recording devices seem to be everywhere and, even if they weren't, it pays to be careful what you say.