[lbo-talk] Tea Party: less than meets the eye

[Carrol Cox]

I've only sampled this thread, so I'm not sure where the disagreements lie.
But surely there is no one on this list that doesn't take for granted that
racism is ALWAYS a major, if not the major, element in u.s. public  opinion?
Of course the Tea Party and much of the rest of the public is racist.

Obama is a bad president, but that is obviously not why so many people hate
him. They hate him because he is black, not because he is a bad president.
If there is an argument on this then I'm bewildered.

Carrol

Chip Berlet:

When you ask Tea Party supporters if they are racist, of course they say no.

When you ask Tea Party supporters what makes them mad at Obama, of course
they are going to deny their own racism is one of the factors.

If you sit down with Tea Party supporters and spend 30-40 minutes with an
in-depth social science survey, their racism leaps out.