Howard Dean Calls Tea Party Racist and Unappealing to Young Voters

The Tea Party is still a group of racists that does not appeal to young voters. That's how Howard Dean described the party to a group of Vanderbilt University students yesterday.

According to the Student Free Press, Dean called into the the class "Political Campaigns and the Electoral Process” to discuss the effects of the Tea Party on the 2012 presidential election.

He made sure to let his thoughts known.

“I think in addition to a bad economy, the Tea Party arose out of a discomfort with the demographic shift going on in this country,” Dean said, trumpeting a popular, yet baseless, accusation that the Tea Party is inherently racist.

The Free Press went described the rest of Dean's remarks by saying, "According [to] Dean, the country is shifting to a group of ethnic and social minorities and this bothers members of the Tea Party, which he said consists mostly of white people 55 years and older."

Dean then shifted gears to reassure President Obama that he should worry about losing younger voters to the Tea Party group or the Republican party in general.

“Obama was elected overwhelmingly by voters under 35 years of age,” Dean said. “Obama has not lost any voters to the Tea Party.” He continued, “The problem with Republicans in general is that they offend the younger generation with their attacks on gays and immigrants," and then offered some non-advice advice for the GOP: “I don’t have much advice for Republican (presidential contenders) other than to abandon their right-wing social agenda.”

And what Democratic political rant these days would not be complete without a couple shots at Sarah Palin. Dean made sure to add his take on the former Alaska governor. “Sarah Palin stands for the middle class of the 1950s, when things were much more black and white,” Dean said. “It is interesting that she is a turn off to most women, but attractive to older Republican men.”

The class ended with the professor saying how important it is for students to hear Dean's impression of the Tea Party.

“Students got to hear a different take on the Tea Party and whether they agree with it or not is up to them,” Professor John Greer said. “But for them to be exposed to a different viewpoint is what this course is all about.”