In life, there are certain things you just do not do. You do not mock somebody's religion. You do not make fun of someone's handicap. You do not take pot shots at race. Some things are off limits because of basic human decency.
Mark Williams is indecent. A Tea Party Express spokesman, he wrote an online post of a fictional letter from what he called "Colored People" to President Abraham Lincoln. He called it satire.
I'm sure that many will breathlessly jump to defend Williams' Constitutional right to write satire Nobody is arguing against Williams' Constitutional right to be indecent -- just as surely nobody is arguing that Williams should be accepted and his views endorsed.
Now, I like satire and enjoy all sorts of humor. Of course, Williams can joke. Nobody has to laugh.
That's why the National Tea Party Federation expelling a member group after it failed to rebuke and remove Williams was the right thing to do. "They have no intention of taking the action we required for their group to continue as a member of the National Tea Party Federation," the federation stated. "Therefore, effective immediately the National Tea Party Federation is expelling Tea Party Express from the ranks of our membership."
Federation spokesman David Webb, interviewed Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," called the blog post "clearly offensive."
Yes, it was. The racial hatred shown by some at Tea Party events dooms the overall movement. Many moderates would much rather vote for a Democrat than a Tea Party candidate -- probably some Republicans, too.
Good call, David -- keep it up!
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