Republican Party claims 'Nazis' represent 99 Percent activists

The Republican National Committee (RNC) have added themselves to the list of .

RNC communications director Sean Spicer sent out an email Tuesday saying, "Democratic leaders have spent the last week championing the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, yet in the midst of protestors’ extreme anti-Semitic, anti-Israel comments, they’ve been silent."

"Democrats were quick to single out any instances of perceived extremism among Tea Party supporters," Spicer added. "But with Occupy Wall Street, they turn a blind eye."

Similarly, Dana Loesch, writer for Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website, brought the Nazi smear to CNN on Tuesday evening immediately after the Republican debate. She claimed the endorsements were something "that we didn't see with the tea party."

But both the RNC and Loesch have been silent on how the tea party has been endorsed by controversial figures and groups as well.

Ku Klux Klan member David Duke publicly gave his backing for the anti-spending, anti-government movement earlier this month, as well as other white supremacist groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) sponsoring the Mississippi tea party, and klan members themselves openly planning on Internet forums to attend tea party rallies.

Additionally, neo-Nazi supporter J.T. Ready spoke at a Phoenix tea party rally in 2009. Other militant groups with white supremacist leanings have gone so far as to target tea party rallies as possible recruiting centers.

As if that weren't enough, tea party favorite and GOP House candidate Rich Iott was photographed dressed up as a Nazi, allegedly for a historical reenactment. He later lost his bid for Ohio's 9th district to Democrat Marcy Kaptur last November.

Of course, none of which is to say that Nazis or white supremacists represent the majority of grassroots activists who attended 'Occupy' or tea party rallies -- it's just a series of details too often left out by members of the partisan press.

(Photo credit: Mark Heard)