A plan by a group that opposes the Tea Party to infiltrate the organization and show how hateful they are is artificial and unnecessary.

According to the AP:

Jason Levin, creator of http://www.crashtheteaparty.org , said Monday the group has 65 leaders in major cities across the country who are trying to recruit members to infiltrate tea party events for April 15 - tax filing day, when tea party groups across the country are planning to gather and protest high taxes. "Every time we have someone on camera saying that Barack Obama isn't an American citizen, we want someone sitting next to him saying, 'That's right, he's an alien from outer space!'" Levin said.

Levin said his goal is to "to exaggerate the group's least-appealing qualities, further distance the tea party from mainstream America and damage the public's opinion of them," the AP writes.

"Do I think every member of the tea party is a homophobe, racist or a moron? No, absolutely not," Levin said. "Do I think most of them are homophobes, racists or morons? Absolutely."

And that's the problem with Levin's plan. The individuals in the Tea Party are doing a good enough job on their own of exposing their ignorance. There is no need to send someone in as an undercover agent to rile the group up or incite them to say things worse than they have already been saying. All that's necessary is to take a few pictures and record a few comments from Tea Party rallies to see the real motivations of this group.Just look at the photo of the Tea Party founder holding a sign with a racial slur. He tried to deny the sign had the slur by saying it was doctored but forgot that he previously admitted to holding the sign.

Another Tea Party group in Ohio recently posted racist commentsabout Hispanics on their website. And lest we forget that racial and homophobic slurs were shouted at members of Congress during the health care reform debate.

And then there is the contradiction in their ideological efforts. As a New York Times article recently pointed out, these are folks who say they are against government intervention in to their lives and favor less government spending. They still, however, collect unemployment, social security and Medicare. In fact, many people came to the movement only after losing their jobs or having their homes foreclosed on.

Finally, their arguments about government spending and concern for the deficit just don't make sense. Where was this group when President George W. Bush was destroying our surplus by cutting taxes to the wealthy while engaging in war against Iraq on false pretenses? Where were they when the problems that created the need for a government bailout were being created? Why is the party only growing in fervor after President Obama was elected?

It's clear that the Tea Party movement is being manipulated by conservative Republicans to try and rally voters without appearing to swing as far right as the Tea Party does. An infiltration effort, though, will only make this group seem more important than they are. It will lead to charges that their message is being manipulated.

There is no need to stoop to the level that some of the Republican pranksters have when they sent undercover people in to ACORN and recorded video that was heavily edited, leading to the downfall of an obviously imperfect and ill-trained group but one that was considered dangerous because they helped to organize poor people.

Even the New York Times apologized for not getting all aspects of the story right. And the individual involved with the ACORN "sting" is now under indictment for another failed "sting" effort involving a Democratic senator.

What Levin's group should be doing is organizing factual and open dissent to Tea Party policies and belief. They should work on educating the public about whether the things Tea Party groups say have any merit or are based in fantasy.

I'd take an educated public over a duped one any day, but apparently, I'm in the minority on that one.