Anti-immigrant hatred was spewed at the Tea Party convention over the weekend, but you probably didn't know it, as it was barely reported.

Instead we had a lot of speculating about Sarah Palin and a 2012 White House run, and the Tea Party crowd came across as fairly decent folk, mad as hell, but civil.

Not so.

Consider the following, widely applauded remarks by keynote speaker Tom Tancredo, the racist anti-immigrant former congressman.

Here are his words about Americans who voted for Barack Obama. He stated there should be a "civics literacy test" for those who voted for Obama. He stated Obama was elected by people who "couldn't spell the word 'vote' or say it in English" and that they had elected a "committed socialist ideologue called Barack Hussein Obama."

Doesn't that just make you proud to be an American? This age-old appeal to racism and anti-immigrant sentiment?

He also claimed that the Mexican president was seeking to create a new country by joining the U.S. and Mexico as one country and eliminating borders.

And that Obama was ashamed to put his hand on his heart when The National Anthem was being played.

Interesting isn't it, that very little was written about Tancredo's rant and hate-filled speech. Are we suddenly afraid to counter such racists in this country? Are we sleepwalking toward disaster where rabble-rousers like Tancredo can fan the flames of hatred and division at a time when we have never needed more to come together as nation?

The Tea Party strikes me as the poison party when they allow such racists to rant on. Shame on them for allowing Tancredo his racist platform.