Tea party leader expelled over slavery letter

By Matt DeLong



Updated at 6:25 p.m.

The NAACP ignited a firestorm last week when it passed a resolution at its national convention condemning racism within the tea party movement. Not surprisingly, the issue was a topic of much discussion on the Sunday talk shows.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," NAACP President Ben Jealous faced off against David Webb of the National Tea Party Federation. Webb said Mark Williams, the former chairman and spokesman of Tea Party Express who came under fire last week for writing a satirical letter in which he called slavery a "great gig," and his group had been expelled from the National Tea Party Federation. Webb blasted the NAACP's "selective condemnation of racism," which he attributed to "fringe elements" within the tea party, and called on Jealous to denounce members of the New Black Panther Party for saying they want to "kill cracker babies."

"We absolutely denounce the New Black Panther Party," Jealous said, adding that the NBPP is a very small organization. "But they aren't in our group. These folks are in your groups."

Webb and Jealous agreed to make joint appearances to discuss race relations and other issues.

Vice President Joe Biden said on ABC's "This Week" that the tea party "is not a racist organization," but added that "the truth is that at least elements that were involved in some of the Tea Party folks expressed racist views."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined even to wade into the discussion on CNN's "State of the Union."

"I am not interested in getting into that debate ... I have got better things to do than to wade in to all of these disputes and discussions that are going on out in the country," McConnell said.

"Slanderous" was the word used by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to describe the NAACP's resolution on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I think it's slanderous to suggest the vast movement of citizens who have gotten off the couch and showed up at town hall meetings and tea party events, somehow to smear them with this label, there's just no basis for it," Cornyn said.

Cornyn's counterpart on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) declined to endorse the NAACP resolution. "I'll let their judgment as the nation's conscience on race stand for their own proposition," Menendez said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), appearing on CNN, said there are "some individuals who have tried to exacerbate racial tensions in this country" within the tea party movement. "I have seen some virulent flyers that have been directed at our members, clearly referencing race, the president's race and race generally," Hoyer said.