A top lawmaker in the Congressional Black Caucus says tea partiers on Capitol Hill would like to see African-Americans hanging from trees and accuses the movement of wishing for a return to the Jim Crow era.

Rep. Andre Carson, a Democrat from Indiana who serves as the CBC’s chief vote counter, said at a CBC event in Miami that some in Congress would “love to see us as second-class citizens” and “some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.”

Carson also said the tea party is stopping change in Congress, likening it to “the effort that we’re seeing of Jim Crow.”

The explosive comments, caught on tape, were uploaded on the Internet Tuesday, and Carson’s office stood by the remarks. Jason Tomcsi, Carson’s spokesman, said the comment was “in response to frustration voiced by many in Miami and in his home district in Indianapolis regarding Congress’s inability to bolster the economy.”

Read more: politico.com

When asked questions about the president’s upcoming speech on jobs and economic growth yesterday, White House Spokesperson Jay Carney claimed that only the most ‘fervent partisan’ would suggest the 8 million plus jobs lost in this recession were lost because of actions Barack Obama took.

The question was asked by CBS reporter Norah O’Donnell. The exchange appears in the official White House transcript of the press briefing:

Q — Jay, the question is what is different in this new speech? What is going to be different?

MR. CARNEY: Well, you will see what the President proposes…

Read More: CNSNews.com

An online poll featured on the Iowa-based Tea Party of America’s website asks, “When do you think Sarah Palin will announce as a candidate for the presidency?”

There are seven options from which respondents can choose, making the last one — “don’t think she’s running” — appear as if it were added as a mere afterthought.

Members of the newly formed Tea Party group, which will host the former Alaska governor at a rally in Iowa on Saturday, have made clear that they have no special insight into Palin’s presidential intentions. But the group has been touting Palin’s address as a major event, and if she does use the speech to strongly hint at the likelihood of a White House bid, Palin’s team of self-appointed volunteer organizers in the Hawkeye State are ready to pick up the pace of their own efforts, too.

Ladd Ventling, who serves as a county coordinator for the Iowa branch of Organize4Palin, told RCP that he spoke privately with Todd Palin for over 20 minutes about the volunteer group’s efforts during the visit by Alaska’s former First Couple to the Iowa State Fair earlier this month.

Read More: Real Clear Politics

Tea Party supporters back Rick Perry for the GOP presidential nomination, giving him a strong double-digit lead in the latest Gallup Poll over rivals Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann.

Perry is the choice of 35% of the Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who consider themselves supporters of the small government, anti-tax movement. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman who founded the House Tea Party Caucus, were each the choice of 14% of Tea Party supporters.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose libertarian views have attracted a following in his three presidential bids, was the only other GOP candidate to rank in the double digits, as the choice of 12% of Tea Party supporters.

Nearly six in 10 Republicans in the Gallup survey consider themselves Tea Party supporters.

Overall, Perry is the top choice for…

Read More: USA Today

If this weekend showed one thing (hurricanes aside), it’s that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will continue to be Rick Perry.

The governor again called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” Saturday during a campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa. It’s not a new line for Mr. Perry — he used the same description in his 2010 book, “Fed Up!” But it’s one his campaign previously told The Wall Street Journal he may avoid now that he’s running for president.

“It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie,” Mr. Perry told the crowd. He added during a later stop in Des Moines, “I haven’t backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right.”

In print, Mr. Perry suggested the New Deal-era entitlement program was unconstitutional when he said it was…

Read More: WSJ Blogs