I have read plenty of stories that refer to the thinly-veiled racism of the Tea Party. A colleague tried to convince me that everyone there was really just trying to keep the black man down. 

It's horse crap, of course. But that doesn't mean they keep trying to affix that label. And yet whenever a black man doesn't toe the Democrat line, he's ostracized or worse. From the New York Times, via Mediaite:

You have got to hand it to the New York Times’ editors – they’ve got moxy. A Times opinion piece on Tuesday introducing their readers to the newest Senator from the Palmetto State, former Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), speaks about him – and those with who share his political affiliation and skin color – in the terms you would describe a curious science project. In “The Puzzle of Black Republicans,” the Times summons all the subtlety of the Kool-Aid Man as they smash through the perception that the “paper of record” maintains a single shred of neutrality as they advance the notion that non-Democratic African-Americans are a curiosity to be examined like some newly discovered species of fish. 

In the author’s mind, the decision to embrace or reject Republicanism is entirely based in race and how others perceive your level of racial tolerance. If that was how Sen. Scott thought, he would probably not be a Republican. But, according to Professor Reed, the “puzzle” of black Republicans evidently cannot be solved by attempting to learn how they actually think.

The trope of the black conservative has retained a man-bites-dog newsworthiness that is long past its shelf life. Clichés about fallen barriers are increasingly meaningless; symbols don’t make for coherent policies. Republicans will not gain significant black support unless they take policy positions that advance black interests. No number of Tim Scotts — or other cynical tokens — will change that.

The timing of this piece is curious – it comes one day after the National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar writer published a well-received piece on how the Tea Party’s influence has increased the GOP’s diversity dramatically. The Democratic party, meanwhile, “boast relatively few statewide minority officeholders.”

More ridiculous racism, narrow-thinking and bigotry from the supposedly enlightened class.