Is the Tea Party racist?

The "conventional wisdom" (or popular myth in this case) is that The Tea Party movement, made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of individual and often-unaffiliated groups, is composed of neo-Nazi racists.

There's one strange fact that seems to dispute this: according to a new AP-GfK poll conducted over Oct. 13-17, Herman Cain (a black man) is running not only neck and neck with the media-anointed favorite Mitt Romney, Tea Party supporters favor Cain over Romney by 33 percent for Cain to 29 percent for Romney and 13 percent for Perry.

Among conservative Republicans, Romney is the choice of 28 percent, Cain 27 percent and Perry 15 percent. Ten percent of conservatives say they're not sure whom they'd like to see win the party's nod.

Now it's true that some individuals, even with the local Tea Party come across as racist. At the first meeting I attended, a pleasant gentleman next to me  leaned across and whispered something about "the Big Nig" being on TV at the same time as the meeting. Puzzled, I said, "Big Nig?" He said, "Yeah, the Big Nigger in the White House."

Now, the truth is I've also heard very similar comments from some Hickman County Democrats, included one who has never voted Republican in his life. And of course there are obviously some Republicans who feel the same way.

So to me, smearing everyone in a group with the same red-herring brush is hypocritical. If there's anything racist, it's saying that all blacks must think alike. What is that supposed to be - some kind of racial, genetic defect? It's like saying all Republicans or all Jews are multi-millionaires or all Democrats are Communists. That's horse hockey!

If you look at some of the video from Barack Obama's campaign appearances, there are black Tea Party members, some of whom were in one audience holding pro-Tea Party signs.

Historically, Black Americans have sided with the Democrats, and those who are not Democrat are often (and erroneously) labeled as "Uncle Toms". Yet you can go back decades and find black U.S. Republican Senators such as Edward Brooke of the liberal state of Massachusetts, elected in 1966 by a whopping 60.7%–38.7% over his Democratic opponent.

He was also the first African American elected to the Senate since the 19th century, when selection came from state legislatures, and would remain the only person of African heritage sent to the Senate in the 20th century until Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois in 1993, and was the last Republican Senator elected from Massachusetts until the 2010 election of Scott Brown. He is also the only African American reelected to the Senate. Since the death of Charles H. Percy on September 17, 2011, Brooke is the second-oldest living and oldest living Republican Senator.

So let's put aside the racist stereotypes and deal with the issues, OK?