2) Ben Jealous, the NAACP head, said this on Face The Nation: “Bigots come in all colors. We absolutely denounce the New Black Panther Party.” (The NAACP website has a pretty precise description of the resolution.)

3) Many Dems denounce the gang you mention. I do, often. In fact I consider it an ethical obligation to denounce ugly behavior by my own side as quickly as I denounce ugly behavior by those whose positions you oppose.

4) The question to McConnell came from CNN, not the NAACP. McConnell said he had better things to do. His refusal to answer leaves us to imagine his motives. I imagine something bad.

6. My memory, admittedly imperfect, is that I heard the epithets on video at the time. You don’t shout nigger or faggot, even when provoked, unless those terms are part of you.

1) I think the “racist elements” shot by the NAACP was a cheap shot, essentially tarring the whole movement by its vagueness. I’ve read too many blogs and heard too many radio callers that equate opposition to the President as per se racism. The attack was clever but essentially unfair.

2) There are definitely racist elements in the NAACP. I wouldn’t call it a racist organization. Given the ugly rant recorded of one of the participants in the voter intimidation episode by the New Black Panthers, it would have been soothing, at least, if the NAACP also asked THAT organization to reject its racist elements. That they don’t at least creates a rebuttable presumption that the NAACP’s gambit was a political tactic, not a moral one. (Any idea why the language of the actual resolution hasn’t been released?)

3) The Democratic Party hasn’t been told by any legitimate organization to kick out its Truthers, anti-religious bigots, socialists, anti-Semites like Helen Thomas and the likes of Noam Chomsky, because to do so would tar the Party with extremism that in fcat isn’t at its core, only its fringes. When Alan Grayson says “Republicans want you to die” it is widely condemned as uncivil and hateful. I saw outright anti-American posters at Iraq (and Vietnam) War peace rallies, and I don’t recall anyone thinking it was necessary to demand that the peace movement organizers toss out the America-haters.

4) The NAACP tactic is the equivalent of a “when did you stop beating your wife?” question. I think McConnell, who may be my least favorite Senator, was well within his discretion to refuse to play. The Tea Party is only about racism to those who want to discredit the whole movement.

5) Mark Williams had to go because he’s an embarrassment and a loose cannon—and a terrible satirist. I don’t know that he’s a racist, but if people conclude he is he has no one to blame but himself.

6) I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the mob Pelosi, Frank and others provocatively walked through to provoke an ugly reaction (for this was clearly what they were doing) shouted epithets. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t, and the claims they did were lies. I will say that in the absence of any evidence on any of the recordings or videos that such epithets were shouted, and the equivocations of some of the accusers (what was later described as spittle spraying from the mouth of a shouting angry demonstrator was described in the press the demonstrating spitting at a Congressman, which appears to be fiction) I think you would be more correct to use “allegedly” when you allude to those incidents. Those at the incident deny the allegations, and Pelosi et al. hardly have an unblemished record of honesty.