CNN Shocked to Find that Tea Parties Aren't Racist

A political producer for CNN recently traveled over 1,000 miles with the Tea Party Express to rallies all across America and was shocked to discover the mainstream media template of racism simply wasn't true. Unfortunately, he had to open his piece with a fantasy:

When it comes to the Tea Party movement, the stereotypes don't tell the whole story.

Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders; racist rhetoric spewed from what seems to be a largely white, male audience; and angry protesters rallying around the Constitution.

Case in point: During the health care debate last month, opponents shouted racial slurs at civil rights icon Georgia Rep. John Lewis and one person spit on Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The incidents made national headlines, and they provided Tea Party opponents with fodder to question the movement.

Frankly, this opening represents very sloppy and unprofessional work on the producer's part because the incidents he's reporting as fact never happened. Sure, some congressmen claimed they were called the "n" word, and Cleaver briefly claimed to have been spit upon, but an examination of dozens of videos of the incident can find not a single example of the "n" word being uttered (though one congressmen claimed he heard is 15 times), and the spitting incident was shown to be an exuberant person shouting at the congressman to "kill the bill", not spitting at him. Cleaver has since backed off his claim.

Andrew Breitbart has offered $100,000 of his own money to be donated to the United Negro College Fund if anyone can produce proof that the "n" word was shouted. Nobody has collected.

Back to his Tea Party story:

But here's what you don't often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper.

Last week, I saw all of this during a five-city Western swing as the Tea Party Express national tour made its way across the country. CNN was along for the ride, and I was charged with planning CNN's coverage for five stops in two states: St. George, Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah; and Grand Junction and Denver, Colorado.

This latest Tea Party caravan kicked off on March 27 in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nevada. It is scheduled to make 45 stops before rolling into Washington on April 15, not so coincidentally on "Tax Day."

CNN was the only national news outlet on this Western leg of the tour. We had a full team on the ground: myself, correspondent Ed Lavandera, producers Tracy Sabo and Jim Spellman and the crew of the CNN Express bus. For Spellman, it was his third Tea Party Express tour.

Together, we beamed out images of the anger and the optimism, profiled African-Americans who are proud to be in the Tea Party's minority and showed activists stirred by "God Bless America" or amused by a young rapper who strung together rhymes against the president and Democrats.

The CNN Express traveled with the Tea Party Express buses for hundreds of miles, from rally to rally to rally.

Being at a Tea Party rally is not quite like seeing it on TV, in newspapers or online. That's the reason CNN is covering this political movement -- and doing so in ways few others can or choose to do.

It is important to show the colorful anger Americans might have against elected leaders and Washington. But people should also see the orange-vested Tea Party hospitality handlers who welcome you with colorful smiles.

There were a few signs that could be seen as offensive to African-Americans. But by and large, no one I spoke with or I heard from on stage said anything that was approaching racist.

Almost everyone I met was welcoming to this African-American television news producer.

Imagine that. The African-American producer wasn't lynched at a Tea Party rally.

That's because none of the outrage against Obama is about race, it's about policies. I'm glad this member of the mainstream media is figuring that out. However, had he and his colleagues done their homework they would have figured this out long ago.