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Representative Andre Carson of Indianapolis is a total disgrace.  There's just no way of candy-coating this one.  Beyond just being wrong, the man is extraordinarily uninformed about the vast majority of issues the federal government is dealing with - a reality that emerges every time he grants an interview.  And he seems to be incapable of hiring anyone to his staff that can at least make it appear otherwise.

But beyond embarrassing his constituents with his lack of knowledge, Carson seems to be proficient at nothing more than slimy race-baiting...something he does with frightening regularity.  It may not be a comfortable reality to acknowledge, but if we're truly wanting to live in a color blind society, it's important to call out the folks who are preventing it.  Andre Carson is certainly one of them.

You will recall that Carson (along with Rep. John Lewis) lied to reporters about tea party members hurling racial epithets at them as they taunted the protestors by walking through them straight into the Capitol building to take their now infamous healthcare vote.  Despite thousands of hours worth of video and audio of the event, not a single racial slur was recorded.  Not one.  Then, Carson and Lewis's stories and tales of how it unfolded started contradicting each other, and it quickly became apparent that the two had simply made it up.  At that point, the media quickly stopped investigating the incident.

Well, Representative Carson is at it again.  Still incapable of coming up with any singular idea, platform, or legislative policy worth talking about, Carson has gone back to the well of what he does best: stirring racial discord.  The pathetic Congressman has once again gone after tea party Americans, this time injecting extraordinarily offensive imagery to his wild claims:

A leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus is standing by incendiary language he used at a recent town hall when he charged that tea-party aligned members of Congress view African Americans as "second-class citizens" and would like to see them "hanging on a tree."

 

Rep. Andre Carson's (D-Ind.) office confirmed that the lawmaker made the remarks at an Aug. 22 CBC Job Tour event in Miami and said that the comments were "prompted in response to frustration voiced by many in Miami and in his home district in Indianapolis regarding Congress' inability to bolster the economy."

 

"The tea party is protecting its millionaire and oil company friends while gutting critical services that they know protect the livelihood of African-Americans, as well as Latinos and other disadvantaged minorities," Carson spokesman Jason Tomcsi said. "We are talking about child nutrition, job creation, job training, housing assistance, and Head Start, and that is just the beginning. A child without basic nutrition, secure housing, and quality education has no real chance at a meaningful and productive life."

 

"So, yes, the congressman used strong language because the Tea Party agenda jeopardizes our most vulnerable and leaves them without the ability to improve their economic standing," Tomcsi added.

 

A video of Carson making the remarks began circulating online Tuesday night. The clip is a compilation of footage from several CBC town halls during the August recess and bears the logo of The Blaze, a Web site launched by conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

 

"I'm saying right now, under (CBC) Chairman Emanuel Cleaver's leadership, we have seen change in Congress ... but the tea party is stopping that change," Carson said at the event, according to the video. "And this is beyond symbolic change. This is the effort that we're seeing, of Jim Crow."

 

"Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens," Carson continued. "Some of them in Congress right now with this tea party movement would love to see you and me ? I'm sorry, Tamron ? hanging on a tree."

 

"Tamron" appears to be a reference to MSNBC's Tamron Hall, whowas moderating the town hall meeting.

The media should be demanding Carson to name just one member of the tea party movement that has ever called for such a heinous act to take place.  If Carson is going to hurl an accusation that these Americans are wanting to lynch blacks, surely he must be expected to provide some kind of evidence for it.  That is way too aggressive and offensive of an accusation to simply be the product of hyperbole and bluster.  If Carson can't identify anyone who has made such a proposition, he's guilty of slander against millions of his fellow Americans and a number of his own constituents.

Of course these comments don't come in a vacuum.  Fellow Congressional Black Caucus member Maxine Waters recently told the tea party they could go "straight to Hell."

This is the class of the CBC and of Representative Andre Carson personally.  If others in their party don't step up to renounce them, and demand that they apologize for their aggressive and racially provocative accusations, they are just as slimy.

It's acceptable to disagree with your political opponents.  Suggesting they are racists who want to lynch blacks, however, goes beyond disagreement.  Without proof it is a mindless and outrageous slur that disgraces the speaker and all he claims to represent.  It was time for Andre Carson to find another line of work a long time ago.  This disgrace only reemphasizes the obvious.