Actually, the headline is “Black conservative tea party backers take heat,” which is a considerably more important angle. One purpose of the endless racial demagoguery of the right by the Frank Riches of the world is, of course, to make life hard for minorities who break with leftist orthodoxy. They’d never admit that, which is understandable, but they’re also rarely ever called on it, which isn’t. For all the media navel-gazing these days about how political rhetoric mainstreams hostility, the “race traitor” accusation that’s almost universally experienced by minority conservatives I know and that’s implicit in any grotesque caricature of tea partiers as some sort of neo-Klan rarely gets attention outside of right-wing media. And no wonder: It’s a fabulously effective form of intimidation.

They’ve been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement — and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation’s first black president.

“I’ve been told I hate myself. I’ve been called an Uncle Tom. I’ve been told I’m a spook at the door,” said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government…

Since Obama’s election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.

“I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions,” he said. “They don’t agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community … Why can’t we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?”

Why can’t you speak openly? Because the New York Times op-ed page is telling its readers that you’re complicit in a new Kristallnacht. Be grateful you can walk down the street without being harassed by the Forces of Tolerance.

Follow the link up top for a surreal scene in which a black tea-party candidate cleans up in donations at a bar where the Confederate flag is mounted on the wall. Here’s a new clip from Zo sharing some fan mail he received recently expressing “appreciation” for his ideological diversity.