NAACP Chairman Emeritus: IRS Right to Target Tea Party 'Racists'

Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the NAACP, said Tuesday on MSNBC that the IRS and the federal government were correct in targeting conservative groups for added scrutiny over tax-exempt status. 

Bond compared the IRS actions against the Tea Party to actions he claimed were taken against the NAACP by the IRS in 2004 after he criticized then-president George W. Bush. But while Bond claimed that the alleged 2004 actions were wrong, the present-day actions against the Tea Party were just fine.

I don’t think there’s a double standard at all. I think it’s entirely legitimate to look at the tea party. I mean, here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who tried as best they can to harm President Obama in every way they can. They are the Taliban wing of American politics and we all ought to be a little worried about them.

Bond was asked if his perspective on the Tea Party was “a little harsh.” He responded saying, “The truth hurts.”