Political Hotsheet
By

Brian Montopoli /

CBS News/ April 13, 2010, 2:59 PM

Tea Party Foes Target Movement "Morons"

AP
The Tea Party movement is a "loose affiliation of racists, homophobes and morons" that must be stopped "by any non-violent means necessary," according to the Web site "Crash The Tea Party."

The group's founder, Jason Levin, told the Associated Press that it has 65 leaders in cities around the country who are seeking to orchestrate infiltration of this week's Tea Party protests.

"Do I think every member of the Tea Party is a homophobe, racist or a moron? No, absolutely not," he said. "Do I think most of them are homophobes, racists or morons? Absolutely."

According to the group's Web site, it is seeking to infiltrate Tea Party groups in order to "propagate their pre-existing propensity for paranoia and suspicion." The site says some members have already attended meetings and rallies.

"Whenever possible, we will act on behalf of the Tea Party in ways which exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV interviews, etc.) to further distance them from mainstream America and damage the public's opinion of them," the site says. "We will also use information that we have gained in order to disrupt and derail their plans."

Speaking to the AP, founder Levin said this: "Every time we have someone on camera saying that Barack Obama isn't an American citizen, we want someone sitting next to him saying, 'That's right, he's an alien from outer space!'"

There is no way to verify Levin's claims about the size or activities of his group, or even exactly what his motivations are: After all, the group's plans give Levin's ostensible opponents ammunition to claim that the worst excesses in their movement are actually coming from infiltrators in disguise. (It's also worth noting the site is selling t-shirts.)

In a speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference last weekend, Sen. David Vitter pointed conservative activists to the "Crash The Tea Party" Web site and warned that "you're going to see a determined effort to use the movement to split" the Tea Party vote.

It is not clear if the "Crash The Tea Party" group will have a presence at tomorrow's Tea Party rally in Massachusetts, which will feature Sarah Palin but not the state's junior senator, Republican Scott Brown, whose special election victory was attributed to Tea Party efforts. Massachusetts Republicans have been reticent to embrace the event for fear of what one called "different extremes in that group."

Tea Party groups are also planning to rally in Washington and elsewhere on Thursday, April 15th, in conjunction with the deadline for filing taxes. The "TEA" in "Tea Party" is sometimes said to stand for "Taxed Enough Already."

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123 Comments Add a Comment
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thomasmc1957 says:
The very existence of the Tea Party proves that this country needs free - and mandatory - mental health care.
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freestaterevolution says:
Jason Levin will be nominated for a Darwin Award. Even the moderately ignorant useful idiots think Levin is a dolt. I imagine he wrote the following in his journal today:
"Notes to self:
1. Next time I plan to infiltrate a group or organization, don't announce it to the world via a website.
2. Avoid interviews with the national press (ie. AP)- sharing my identity, plan, and motives is a sure way to collapse my movement.
3. Change my name and get plastic surgery to change my identity- even liberals won't want anything to do with me.
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Fight4Rights says:
So, they want to infiltrate the movement...Which means that they can act like "racists", "biggots", and "homophobes" to make the Tea Party look bad. I think there is a fundamental problem with the left that they feel the need to do this. If you are going to preach that you are the majority and are "better", you don't need to resort to this.
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troutfishyman says:
Tea Party Foes Target Movement "Morons"



Just keep in mind these folks are angry, mentally unstable, and carry guns. Be careful.
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empress1231 says:
Wow. Does no one get it? We can not rationally address a single issue facing our nation (from terrorism to healthcare) without civil discourse. Everyone, give up the name calling and polar positions and start "speaking" to each other.
Our enemies take great comfort in our inability to discuss issues.
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pr_boxer says:
I agree that the Partier's are racist and homophobes, I doubt they are "morons", they are no doubt on the selfish. insensitive side, but morons?...nah!
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stephanienym says:
Has everyone forgotten who the hell got us in debt? It was these idiots President Bush that took this country to bankruptcy. It seems to me that the repukes just can't take responsibility for it so they have to go after the black guy who is going to fix it!
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Fight4Rights says:
How do we know that it's not the left wing infiltrators that are using the racist, homophobic, and biggoted comments? If the left wing is claiming that they think like the majority, why are they resorting to thses type of tactics?
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porcine_aviator says:
The Tea Party would do well to keep the lunatic fringe out of its ranks.

The reason these guys could be damaging is that there are a lot of Tea Partiers that say and do crazy $hit.

The Tea Party message of returning sanity to taxes and ending big government will not be heard if may of its members are engaging in racist and homophobic antagonism.
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endurorob_5 says:
I just went and looked at the website and it is a complete joke.
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