United Liberty

Via Reason comes this insightful (yes, that’s sarcasm) take on the tea party movement from Kate Zernike of The New York Times:

It seems the ultimate thumb in the eye: that Glenn Beck would summon the Tea Party faithful to a rally on the anniversary of the March on Washington, and address them from the very place where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech 47 years ago. After all, the Tea Party and its critics have been facing off for months over accusations of racism.

While I wasn’t there this past weekend, from what I’ve heard, the rally wasn’t so much about the tea party movement or even politics as it was a religious event. But don’t listen to me, listen to Tony LaRussa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, who happened to be in Washington, DC for the Restoring Honor rally:

“All [the critics] need to do is listen to what is happening here,” La Russa says. “They probably came in with some preconceptions. But this is all about real values and it has nothing to do with politics.”

I’m not saying that no one talked politics while they were there or didn’t show up wearing a shirt with a political message. But as I understand it, neither Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin mentioned Barack Obama or the upcoming mid-term election in their speeches.

Still, Zernike can’t help but make the correlation to racism: