Under attack from the anti-racist groups, Tea Party mouthpiece Patriot Freedom Alliance defended its depiction of President Barack Obama as a skunk in their Web site, saying it was not meant to be racist.

The Hutchinson-based Alliance had posted an image of skunk with a caption that ran: The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol for the president. It is half black, it is half white, and almost everything it does, stinks.

The comment had fueled an outcry against the half white, half black remark referring to the Afro-American ethnicity of President Obama as racist.

The Tea Party has defended their stand by saying, Its portrayal of Obama was meant to be satire and not racist as it was perceived.

Darrell Pope, Area President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), had earlier criticized the caption as a blatant statement of racism.

As far as I'm concerned it's proof of the kind of organization that they are, which I felt it always had racial overtones in the first place he told the Daily Mail.

The image has been removed from the Web site. The racist row emerged as Obama said he always believed fixing the economy is always a long term project in a CBS interview.

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