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I also think the racist card is being played far too often by those criticizing the conservatives. Sure, it's justified in some cases, particularly with some of the more virulent protesters, but I think it's best to respond to the challenges that can actually be addressed with facts. Slinging a charge of racism is always a conversation ender, and the person who plays that card is essentially saying, eh, you're not even worth talking to. (that is true in the case of some of the most virulent protesters, of course.) But it's a lot more useful to keep the conversation focused on facts, especially since both sides appear to have their own sets of facts.
Just for starters, I think an awful lot of the tea party faction need to consult some good dictionaries and history books. Judging from their signs, they don't have very good working definitions of fascism, socialism, communism or nazism, and seem to find them all interchangeable.
I know a few libertarians who are part of these protests, all educated and very smart. I'm surprised that they seem to be cool with the nonsense, jingoism and sometimes threatening rhetoric coming from the more (*ahem*) rural participants in these events. ("We didn't bring guns ... THIS TIME") Strange bedfellows.
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