by Eric Dondero

Talk about extreme bias. The NY Times put out a hit piece this morning seeking to portray the Tea Party movement as undercover "social conservatives." The piece is titled "Tea Party Avoids Devisive Social Issues."

The biggest blunder, intentional or just from plain ignorance, the reporter Kate Zernike referred to the Sam Adams Alliance as "conservative."

From the NY Times:

For decades, faith and family have been at the center of the conservative movement. But as the Tea Party infuses conservatism with new energy, its leaders deliberately avoid discussion of issues like gay marriage or abortion.

God, life and family get little if any mention in statements or manifestos. The motto of the Tea Party Patriots, a large coalition of groups, is “fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets.”

Then later in the piece:

But when the Sam Adams Alliance, a Tea Party-friendly conservative organization in Chicago, surveyed 50 leaders of the movement about the most important direction for the movement, none selected social issues. Most said “budget” or “economy/jobs.”

The Sam Adams Alliance is wholly and entirely libertarian. Of course, Sam Adams members would mention only free market economic issues.

The groups founders and current leaders include, former Libertarian Party National Director Eric O'Keefe, , former Vice-President of the libertarian Macinac Center in Michigan Joe Lehman, (both Sam Adams Board members), former Libertarian National Committee member and 1980 Ed Clark, Libertarian for President campaign staffer Bob Costello and former Libertarian Party National Director and well-known Draft Resistor Paul Jacob.

Although, Sam Adams works with conservatives, and invites conservatives to its functions, the group is firmly identified within the libertarian movement.

The Times was attempting in its piece to portray the Tea Party movement as "avoiding" social issues. Rather, the Tea Party movement itself was founded by Libertarians, including Eric Odom, former Board member of the Libertarian Party of Illinois, and many Ron Paul supporters in various cities, including Denver and Seattle. The very first Tea Party protests recorded were organized by local chapters of the Libertarian Party dating back to 2007.

Not a single mention was made in the piece of the libertarian origins of the Tea Party movement, nor of the current universal libertarian beliefs of Tea Partiers.

Incredibly, the Times even quoted an "expert" that when libertarian Tea Partiers talk of the Constitution, they're really talking about religious extremism.

Some experts, like Lisa McGirr, a professor of history at Harvard and the author of “Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right,” say that the Tea Party uses a kind of code to talk about social values. For instance, when they emphasize a return to the strict meaning of the Constitution, they interpret that as a return to a Christian foundation.

“When they talk about returning to the values of the Founding Fathers,” she said, “they are talking about life as a social issue.”

It'd be interesting to hear Ms. McGirr's explanation as to why most Tea Partiers support drug legalization, legalized prostitution, gambling, and many even pro-choice.

Photos of Eric O'Keefe and Paul Jacob, photo of Jacob taken at the 2006 Sam Adams conference in Chicago.