LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Penalizing the whole Tea Party for a few

OPINION:

We are seeing “generous” comments from liberals, pretty much the same type as heard from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during one of its weak moments, that the Tea Party is not “entirely made up of racists.” That’s a backhanded complement if there ever was one, almost the equivalent of saying “basically, they’re mostly racists.” However, I’m ready to assume the best - that rather than the NAACP harboring the very beliefs it is assigning to whites, perhaps it remains too sensitive to blacks’ history and just fails to recognize that strong feelings, even hatred, have unfortunately always been part of our politics. But it is a puzzle. How could anyone with an IQ higher than a stone and having just lived through the George W. Bush administration not clearly recognize the existence of strong political feelings?

Clearly, politicians of both parties devote considerable time and energy to uncovering hot issues for just this reason - to get their base excited. There always will be a few nuts in any large crowd, and if the protests happen to be directed against an administration headed by a black president, it would be silly not to expect that this may attract some racists. There appears, so far, to be no proof of such charges, but in the real world, it would be unrealistic not to expect some distasteful acts - just as it would be unrealistic not to expect some liberals to make unfounded claims.

But how exactly are the legitimate Tea Party folks supposed to control those few, other than by hoping they will be drowned out in terms of numbers? Our laws give a lot of distasteful groups the same rights the rest of us expect. Yet the NAACP, ignoring the Constitution and perhaps political posturing to keep its base excited, expects the Tea Party to take responsibility for the actions of these few undesirables. There is a possible solution. Perhaps the Democrats could lend the Tea Party a few of its Service Employees International Union police?

DENIS ABLES

Vienna, Va.