Former Obama Campaigner Caught Provocatuering As ‘Racist’ Tea Party Member

A man purporting to be a Rand Paul supporter was caught on film brandishing a racist sign at a rally in Kentucky this past weekend, then later spotted marching with supporters of Paul’s political opponent.

In a another blatant case of provocateuring, the man, who introduced himself as “Tyler” was spotted wearing a tin foil hat and flip flops around his neck with the word “CAP & TRADE” written on them.

While carrying an official Rand Paul campaign hand fan, he also held an anti-immigration sign that read “They take our jobs! Corrupt our children! STEAL the American Dream!”

The provocateur was caught out by an attendee at the Fancy Farm political celebration in Kentucky who claimed he saw the man speaking with supporters and campaign officials of Paul’s opponent for the Kentucky Senate, Jack Conway, shortly before making his way into the crowds.

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However, Slate readers and real Rand Paul supporters did some digging around and have revealed that the man is Tyler Clay Collins, a Murray State University member of the Kentucky Young Democrats, who worked campaigning for Obama for two years.

Pictures taken from Collins’ facebook page, which has since been pulled, show him at an Obama rally in 2008 and posing with Jack Conway backer Crit Luallen. Collins even has Conway as a Facebook friend:

Furthermore, in a comment left on a 2008 news article about Obama’s presidential campaign, Collins declared himself “a hardcore Democrat”.

We have seen several instances of this kind of pathetic provocateuring at Tea Party events in the past, with promises of violence and racist slurs coming from Obama supporters in an effort to demonize legitimate Libertarian and Tea Party activists.

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