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Mark Williams, the tea party leader who wrote a blog post this week calling the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) racist, has been “expelled” from the National Tea Party Federation.
Williams wrote the blog post on Thursday in response to the NAACP’s Tuesday declaration accusing the tea party movement of tolerating racist elements in its midst (see The Upshot’s rundown on the week of attacks and counterattacks here). It was written as an imaginary letter to President Abraham Lincoln and accused the NAACP of being racist for using the word “colored” in its name. When some reacted to it in outrage, Williams deleted it from his website, declaring it time to “move forward.”
The National Tea Party Federation apparently decided to move forward without Williams. Spokesman David Webb said on Face the Nation this morning that Williams and his Tea Party Express had been pushed out because Williams’ posting was “clearly offensive.”
The tea party movement has been growing in influence in American politics since it began as a series of rallies in 2009. Candidates endorsed by local and national organizations that are a part of the coalition have won surprising victories over establishment Republican Party candidates in states like Kentucky and Nevada.
Part of their challenge, however — especially in handling broader debates about what they “are” — is that there isn’t a single Tea Party that speaks for all tea party activists. Rather, there are dozens of national and local organizations that loosely coordinate and all emerged in opposition to Wall Street bailouts that occurred under Presidents Bush and Obama and what they perceive as the Obama Administration’s efforts to expand the role of government. The question of whether or not it also has racial motivations has dogged it since the beginning.
National Tea Party Federation’s expulsion of Williams and the Tea Party Express could be the first of many internal disputes to define the national tea party identity.
thxs Golis
Push-up bikini controversy
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The retailer advertised its “Ashley” bikini top as a “push-up triangle”
It has since changed the online description of the top to a “striped triangle”
Critics blast the retailer for being age-inappropriate
The company declines to comment
(CNN) — No stranger to controversy, U.S. retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has come under fire for offering a push-up bikini top to young girls.
Its “Ashley” bikini — described as “padded” and a “push-up” — was posted on the Abercrombie Kids website earlier this week.
The company declined to comment Saturday but noted it has since updated the description of its bikini online.
The product is now being offered as a padded, “striped triangle.” Bottoms are sold separately.
“How is this okay for a second-grader?” asked Rebecca Odes in a recent post on the Babble parenting blog.
“Playing at sexy is an inevitable and important part of growing up. But there’s a difference between exploring these ideas on your own and having them sold to you in a children’s catalog,” she wrote.
Gail Dines, a sociology professor at Wheelock College in Boston, similarly slammed the top, saying it would encourage girls to think about themselves in a sexual way before they are ready.
“It (also) sends out really bad signals to adult men about young girls being appropriate sexual objects,” she told CNN affiliate WHDH.
This is not the first time the company, known for its sexy style of marketing campaigns, has found itself in hot water with consumers.
In 2002, the retailer pulled controversial T-shirts after complaints they were racially insensitive. One shirt showed Chinese laundry workers with conical hats and the phrase, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White.”
In 2003, the company — under pressure from some consumer groups — said it would stop issuing racy catalogues and halt the publication of its holiday book, which featured nude young adult models in sexually suggestive poses.