NAACP, Liberal Groups Track Perceived Racism in Tea Party Movement

The NAACP, which earlier this year caused a firestorm by passing a resolution condemning racism in the Tea Party movement, has joined with three liberal web sites to create a "Tea Party Tracker" site devoted to documenting "racism and other forms of extremism within he Tea Party movement."

"We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among their ranks and join in civil dialogue with all Americans," says the Tea Party Tracker web site, which includes the tagline "A Watched Teapot Never Boils."

Among the items posted on the site so far are a video clip showing interviews with attendees at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally and a photo of a man at the rally wearing a t-shirt reading, "Blacks own Slaves in Mauritania, Sudan Niger and Haiti."

Members of the Tea Party movement strongly deny that there is a racist element to their movement. Many believe that participants expressing racism at Tea Party rallies are actually liberal plants trying to make them look bad.

They also complain of a double-standard under which extremists at Tea Party rallies are spotlighted while extremists at liberal rallies go ignored.

In addition to the NAACP, the "Tea Party Tracker" site is a project of Media Matters, Think Progress and New Left Media. The groups hope to provide a central clearinghouse for evidence that there is racism in Tea Party Movement, which is responsible for much of the voter enthusiasm on the right.

The groups appear to hope that convincing moderate voters that Tea Party-backed candidates are supported by a movement tied to racism will depress support for those candidates in the midterm elections and help Democrats retain control of Congress.

"I do not want to suggest that the tea party is a hate group, but there are some disturbing elements within," Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau told the Washington Post.

In April, a CBS News pollfound that 52 percent of Tea Party members believe too much has been made of the problems facing black people. Far fewer Americans overall -- 28 percent -- believe as much. Among non-Tea Party whites, the percentage who say too much attention has been paid to the problems of black people is 23 percent.

The "Tea Party Tracker" site is reminiscent of a Democratic National Committee site launched in June where citizen journalists can upload video of Republican candidates. The point of that site, "The Accountability Project," is to unearth embarrassing moments like the so-called "macaca moment" that helped end the political career of former Republican Sen. George Allen.