THIS JUST IN! Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express have been booted from the Tea Party Federation. But this political news story of the hour actually contains has three unsurprises:
1. The Tea Party Federation has kicked out Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express due to a blog post he wrote that even a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli sitting on a shelf in Vons Supermarket on Adams Avenue in San Diego would look at and say: “Man! This sure sounds racist to me!” And the Beefaroni on the next shelf would agree. Why is it not a surprise? Because the Tea Party Federation, now locked in a bitter name-calling exchange with the venerable NAACP, is trying to short-circuit charges that it’s racist, a charge that has started to take hold in some quarters here in the United States and abroad (see the cartoon from Puerto Rico below). This charge won’t help the Federation’s clout in the elections and could also lose the GOP some votes.
2. Williams, who talks and writes in blunt, polarizing and inflammatory attack language is (lest you forget) a talk show host. And as we have noted here many times, talk show hosts have different goals than political parties or most political organizations. Talk show hosts try to saw off a demographic, push some hot buttons, and deliver that demographic repeatedly to advertisers. Most political parties and political movements seek to expand their constituencies and create informal coalitions with voting groups (such as independents). Most successful talk show hosts don’t usually become successes by mincing words or indulging in thoughtful discussion. They say things that their listeners already agree with and say it in a way that many listeners wish they did — or could.
3. Most tea party officials, bigwigs and members were not blasting Williams (certainly not a sea of callers on conservative talk shows) for his post but insisting it was being twisted out of context, exaggerated, etc. But now Williams is simply booted out — the quintessential example of 21st century politicking: back those on your side, go on the attack against those who are going after them no matter what and try not to give the “other side” any chance to score points. More and more American politics resembles a sporting event where fans scream at the other side and look the other way or downplay fouls on their own side.
Williams was the ultimate incarnation of America’s talk radio political culture with its emphasis on strong language, attack mode, snark — qualities beloved by some and loathed by others. But the tea party could NOT afford him to become the poster person for the movement — slapped on verbal, internet and broadcast posters by the media, tea party foes and Democrats when the movement insisted it is far more than just some inflammatory sound bites.
So this CNN story — worth looking at in some detail — should come as no shock:
The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that represents the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled conservative commentator Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express because of an inflammatory blog post he wrote, federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday.
Appearing on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Webb said that Williams and the Tea Party Express — which has held a series of events across the country to generate support for the movement — no longer were part of the National Tea Party Federation.
“We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote,” Webb said of the blog post by Williams that satirized a fictional letter from what he called “Colored People” to President Abraham Lincoln.
Webb called the blog post “clearly offensive.”
MORE:
Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon.
But rest assured: since he is steeped in the talk radio broadcast and talk radio political cultures, he will most assuredly have something to say..
Williams wrote the blog post in response to a resolution by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that called on Tea Party leaders to crack down on racist elements in the movement.
And CNN adds this significant point:
The announcement by Webb on a Sunday talk show demonstrated that the public outcry over the issue had resonated with the Tea Party movement, and indicated a possible split within its leadership.
This possible split is indicative of much of what is occuring throughout the United States: a battle whose victor has yet to be determined but, if could be argued, is swerving towards a victory for the Mark Williams of this world.
The split is between those who believe political debate should focus more on issues and policies and deal with serious ideas presented assertively. But the operative word here is “serious.”
On the other end you have the U.S’. ascendent talk radio political culture which is into attack and snark in responding to those who disagree or outright critics. The emphasis here is less on policy and ideas than on memorable quotes or sound bytes that are often highly polarizing and go on the offensive rather than counter charges with thoughtful answers. It’s the style that has propelled Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to the top of their ratings heaps, can cause a Republican House member to scream “You lie!” to a President and a Democrat to accuse Republicans of wanting people to die without health care. It gets attention, audience share, subscribers and hits — and some believe votes.
There is a middle ground between a bland CSPAN like attitude and a crying nearly foaming-at-the-mouth Glenn Beck.
And the tea party movement is now at a crossroads: struggling over whether members will be seen as the descendents of Ronald Reagan or Morton Downey, Jr.
So Williams is formally out. But he won’t be going anywhere: this will probably increase his ratings, make him more in demand then ever on Fox News, get him a bigger and better job offer and maybe even his own cable show some day, increase his speaking fees and lead to a lucrative new book deal.
Watch out Ann Coulter: you have competition.
HERE IS SOME OTHER BLOG REACTION TO THIS STORY:
—Firedoglake:
In a desperate fight to hide the racism that runs rampant throughout the tea party, the National Tea Party Federation (or NAMBLA) has booted Mark Williams and the Tea Party Express for Mark’s racist blog post [Warning: link to Williams’ site] that made national headlines last week….I guess the teabaggers will now claim to be free of racism.
This link also has a video of one of Williams’ cable appearances where he discusses defusing tensions with the NAACP and his controversial blog post.
—Little Green Footballs:
After screaming all week that there is absolutely no racism in Tea Party groups, today the “National Tea Party Federation” expelled Mark Williams and his “Tea Party Express” for … something. Couldn’t be racism, there is none in the Tea Party.
Now, of course, they’ll claim the nonexistent problem is solved…
I don’t get it. Just a few days ago David Webb was swearing up and down that the NAACP are the real racists, and that their accusation of racist elements in the Tea Party is false, false, completely false…And David Webb is still denying today, even as he announces that one of the national spokespeople of the Tea Party movement has been expelled for one of the ugliest racist screeds I’ve ever read.
Since The Reid Report became the first to report that Mark Williams posted his racist “letter from the colored people to President Lincoln,” it has become a national firestorm, prompting Williams to first edit, and then take down his post. Well now, the tea party movement has taken Williams down, too…
…Meanwhile, many people, including on this site, and up to Republican operative Mary Matalin, who have insisted that Williams was a minor player in the tea party movement and had no influence, have got to be scratching their heads this morning, since Williams was not just expelled as a lowly individual, but as the representative/spokesman and leader of TPE, which is now out on the street as well.
Williams will get his 15th minute of fame tonight on CNN, when he appears with Don Lemon to explain himself, probably for the last time on national television..
Williams’ post was, of course, prompted by the Tea Party/NAACP kerfuffle this week. But if it hadn’t come out at a moment that the Tea Party was conscious about charges of racism, or if Williams hadn’t poured gasoline on the fire in the comments section, I’m curious what, if anything, would have happened. After all, the infamous Dale Robertson “niggar” sign is still available in high-resolution on the Houston Tea Party’s website.
In the Times this morning, Matt Bai notes that much of the racial tension around the Tea Party may stem from generational differences in perceptions of race. May be. But whatever the cause, racial politics are an ongoing challenge to a movement that seeks to speak for all Americans while only rarely expelling those whose definition of “Americans” is related to skin color.
Booting Williams should be seen as a good sign by all sides. For leaders of the Tea Party movement, the only question is: was there even any debate?
williams’ posting pretty effectively proves the NAACP’s point. it seems obviously racist to me. in fact, that satire doesn’t work at all, unless you buy into some pretty racist assumptions. and so the tea party federation has tossed mark williams out. in other words, they repudiated that example of a racist element in the tea party movement.
which is what the NAACP asked them to do in the first place. in protesting the resolution and screaming about the NAACP, the tea party waltzed right into doing exactly what the civil rights organization wanted.
—New York Magazine’s Daily Intel:
….the Tea Party itself admitted that, come to think of it, maybe some of its members are racists, formally expelling conservative commentator and former Tea Party Express leader Mark Williams. Why? For writing a blog post in response to the NAACP that satirized a fictional letter from “Colored People” to President Abraham Lincoln. (It read: “We Coloreds have decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves … that is just far too much to ask of us Colored People!”) Tea Party spokesman David Webb called the post, “Clearly offensive.”
Perhaps the party has yet to inform Sarah Palin that Williams actually is, by their own account, quite racist. She remarked, earlier this week, “I am saddened by the NAACP’s claim that patriotic Americans who stand up for the United States of America’s Constitutional rights are somehow ‘racists.'”
Well, it’s about damn time… but it appears that after his horrifically bigoted mock letter attempting to parody and demean NAACP Leader Ben Jealous has ended up costing Mark Williams his head….Apparently the Tea Party wouldn’t have done anything about Williams if the NAACP hadn’t made an issue of this …. If the Tea Party can’t clean it’s own house better than this without being nagged into it, how do they expect anyone to trust them at running
The OutOur House?
Williams’ response: who’s the National Tea Party Federation anyway?
“There are internal political dramas amongst the various self-anointed tea party ‘leaders’ and some of the minor players on the fringes see the Tea Party Express and Mark Williams as tickets to a booking on Face the Nation,” he said.
“There is no tea party leadership; every tea partier is a tea party leader.”
The federation says it represents more than a million activists in 85 groups.
Williams’ Tea Party Express is one of the most influential in the conservative movement. It has reportedly raised $2.3 million this year, helped elect Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts and organized a rally in Nevada that featured a rare Sarah Palin speech.
Williams stepped down as chairman last month to concentrate on leading the fight against the proposed Lower Manhattan mosque, which he called a monument to the 9/11 attackers to “worship the terrorists’ monkey-god.”
He called Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who backs building the mosque, a “Jewish Uncle Tom who would have turned rat on Anne Frank.”
The expulsion comes amid a broader debate over the extent of racism in the Tea Party movement.
[NAACP President Benjamin] Jealous, who also appeared on the CBS program, praised the action against Williams and thanked Webb.
“You are the only national Tea Party leader who I’ve seen come out and publicly state the things that you’ve stated. And taking on Mark Williams was much appreciated,” Jealous said.
But he also attacked Webb’s assertion that Williams is not a leader in the Tea Party movement.
“Thank you for taking action in the last 24 hours. But you’re also being disingenuous when you say that a man who’s the founder of Tea Party Express, who is on TV as their national spokesman, hasn’t been a Tea Party leader. He absolutely was,” Jealous said.
Credit where it’s due: Just days after insisting there are no racists in the Tea Party movement, Tea Party Federation leader David Webb told CBS’s “Face the Nation” today that Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express had been expelled from the group. Last seen trying to start a sponsors’ boycott of MSNBC’s “Hardball” because of Chris Matthews’s tough reporting on the Tea Party, Webb was apparently appalled by Williams’s blatantly racist Letter to President Lincoln from “Colored People” signed by “Precious Ben Jealous,” asking Lincoln to repeal emancipation because “coloreds” had it better under slavery, not having to look for a job and such. Webb called the letter “offensive.”
You know what’s sad, though? On CNN, also this morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn’t even muster the judgment that Webb showed. “I am not interested in getting into that debate,” McConnell told Candy Crowley. What a wuss. Remember that the next time someone tries to tell you the GOP is the party of Lincoln.
Also on Sunday, Sarah Palin on Twitter asked “peaceful Muslims” to “refudiate” plans for a Ground Zero mosque. In her next Tweet, she changed that to “refute.” No mention of Williams. Also on Twitter, I made an offer to Palin: I will refudiate (or refute or denounce or call them icky) the New Black Panther Party, if she will do the same to Williams. No word yet.
I find it amusing that real inflammatory speech such as Williams is so easily identified and dealt with, but that the NAACP and other progressive groups have to go the route of Think Progress and manufacture fake racism.
As there racists in the Tea Party? I assure you there are as many racists in the Tea Party as there are at Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Burger King, Harvard University, your local car wash and the NAACP. Any organization of any size will attract individuals with fringe, even radical beliefs. The measure of the culture and character of an organization is revealed after those radical elements are exposed, and the organization has to decide how to deal with those radicals.
The NAACP refuses to discipline their radicals. The Tea Party expels them.
That the Tea Party better represents the values and ideals most Americans revere is obvious to all.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.