PETOSKEY, Mich. -- The Tea Party Express has toured state after state trying to kick up a debate about constitutional rights and cast doubt on the legality of the recently passed health care overhaul, all with an eye toward the 2010 elections. 
 
 But while organizers have held the tour as a way to stay front-and-center as a political force, the rallies have also attracted the kinds of mistruths, exaggerations and conspiracy theories that make Tea Party leaders cringe. Though the movement is still trying to shore up its credentials as a grassroots power that's here to stay, the so-called "fringe" and its accompanying antics continue to give critics fodder. 
 
 "Obama, to me, is a socialist. He's a Muslim and all he wants to do is bankrupt us and run us into the ground," Ken Schwalbach of Escanaba, Mich., said at a rally on Friday. 
 
 Though Obama is a Christian -- and his Christian faith was a focal point of debate during the campaign-era controversy over his former pastor Jeremiah Wright -- the allegations that the president is a secret Muslim persist years later. 
 
 The charge of socialism has been a common theme at Tea Party gatherings -- but some activists have gone beyond merely portraying Obama as a European-style, big-government liberal. 
 
 Some suggest Obama wants to keep Americans unemployed so that they become dependent on government-run programs. Lenin and Stalin have become catchwords to describe Obama in the speeches denouncing his policies. 
 
 Going further, swastikas, as well as pictures of Obama's face next to Adolf Hitler's, have appeared on signs at dozens of rallies blasting the president and the Democrat-controlled Congress. 
 
 Other Tea Party members continue to question the president's citizenship -- a sign reading "Show Us Your Birth Certificate" popped up at a recent rally in Traverse City, Mich. 
 
 "What's more disturbing is that he's not answering them," Tea Party member and conservative blogger Andrea Shay King said of the questions over Obama's birthplace. 
 
 The Hawaiian government twice confirmed during the 2008 presidential election that a copy of Obama's birth certificate was authentic. Factcheck.org tracked down the birth certificate and posted copies of it online. 
 
 Questionable characterizations of the massive health care legislation have also resurfaced at Tea Party gatherings. 
 
 Ron Moore of Petoskey, Mich., said he stood firm in his belief that the Democrats' goal was to implement "death panels" to decide who receives medical care and who does not. 
 
 "They've already started," he said. 
 
 But Tea Party organizers -- both nationally and locally -- say the misinformed beliefs of some do not represent the views of all. 
 
 "Any movement is going to have fringe elements," said Joan Fabiano, an organizer with Grassroots in Michigan, a Tea Party group based in Lansing, Mich. 
 
 "If there's any sort of hateful and racist signs, that is something the Tea Party in general would disavow," she said. 
 
 Similar depictions were used to portray former President George W. Bush at anti-war protests-with signs evoking Hitler, the antichrist and other disturbing comparisons. 
 
 Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, said the imagery and rhetoric seen at the Tea Party rallies "pales in comparison" to the protests during the Bush presidency. 
 
 Of some of the debunked theories, like questions over Obama's citizenship, Williams said, "I don't think it's mainstream Tea Party thought." 
 
 "It's an interesting constitutional exercise to wonder about and talk about it," he said. "But it's a dead end in terms of getting anything accomplished." 
 
 Some of the Tea Party rhetoric is closely aligned with that of other conservative groups. The central arguments about health care trumpeted by Tea Partiers are also trumpeted by Republican lawmakers across the country. For instance, Tea Partiers have used the health care overhaul as an example of what they believe is a violation of the U.S. Constitution -- an argument also shared by 19 states that have filed lawsuits over the legislation. 
 
 "You can't make people buy a product or fine them," Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said in an interview with FoxNews.com. "Article 1 of the Constitution has never been twisted, bent or distorted in such a way ever before." 
 
 Cox, a Republican who is also running for governor of Michigan, struck a more tempered stance in comparing the newly passed health care law with socialism. 
 
 "It's not on the model of Western Europe socialism, but it's clearly unconstitutional," Cox said of the law, adding that he believes it amounts to "incremental steps towards that." 
 
 "I fear this is a slippery slope towards a universal single-payer system that has proved so inadequate in other countries," he said. ||||| Mediaite has obtained an email from Fox News Vice President of News and Washington managing editor Bill Sammon to the staff of the D.C. bureau, in the wake of an FNC producer caught pumping up the crowd during the 9/12 tea party broadcast. 
 
 The email, with the subject line “standards,” addresses the controversy head-on: “We do not cheerlead for one cause or another,” writes Sammon. Full email after the jump: 
 
 Sammon uses the incident to drive home the need to be objective: 
 
 We do not rile up a crowd. If a crowd happens to be boisterous when we show it on TV, so be it. If it happens to be quiet, that’s fine, too. It’s not our job to affect the crowd’s behavior one way or the other. Again, we’re journalists, not participants — and certainly not performers. 
 
 It’s not like the crowd needed to be riled up – every time reporter Griff Jenkins (whose focus is features – and ambushing – and not news) mentioned Glenn Beck there were loud cheers. And as TVNewser writes today, the practice is “fairly common.” 
 
 But in the wake of this controversial ad, which attacked their competitors for their poor coverage of the protest, the appearance of tampering with the crowd’s mood had to be addressed by Fox News. 
 
 Here’s the full email: 
 
 From: Sammon, Bill 
 
 Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 2:25 PM 
 
 To: 005 -Washington 
 
 Subject: standards For those of us who have only been at Fox for a relatively short period of time, it’s useful to remind ourselves that, as journalists, we must always be careful to cover the story without becoming part of the story. At news events, we’re supposed to function as dispassionate observers, not active participants. We are there to chronicle the news, not create it. That means we ask questions in a fair, impartial manner. When approaching interviewees, we identify ourselves, by both name and news organization, up front. We seek out a variety of voices and views. We take note of the scene in order to bring color and context to our viewers. We do not cheerlead for one cause or another. We do not rile up a crowd. If a crowd happens to be boisterous when we show it on TV, so be it. If it happens to be quiet, that’s fine, too. It’s not our job to affect the crowd’s behavior one way or the other. Again, we’re journalists, not participants — and certainly not performers. Indeed, any effort to affect the crowd’s behavior only serves to undermine our legitimate journalistic role as detached eyewitnesses. Remember, our viewers are counting on us to be honest brokers when it comes to reporting — not altering –the important events of the day. That is nothing less than a sacred trust. We must always take pains to preserve that trust. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please stop by. 
 
 —– 
 
 » Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter 
 
 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Angry Fox News executives ordered host Sean Hannity to abandon plans to broadcast his nightly show as part of a Tea Party rally in Cincinnati on Thursday after top executives learned that he was set to headline the event, proceeds from which would benefit the local Tea Party organization. 
 
 Rally organizers had listed Hannity, who is on a book tour, as the headliner of the four-hour Tax Day event at the University of Cincinnati. The rally, expected to draw as many as 13,000 people, was set feature speakers such as “Liberal Facism” author Jonah Goldberg and local Tea Party leaders. Participants were being charged a minimum of $5, with seats near Hannity’s set going for $20, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, which reported that any profits would go to future Tea Party events. Media Matters for America noted that Hannity’s personal website directed supporters to a link to buy tickets for the Cincinnati rally. 
 
 But senior Fox News executives said they were not aware Hannity was being billed as the centerpiece of the event or that Tea Party organizers were charging for admission to Hannity’s show as part of the rally. They first learned of it Thursday morning from John Finley, Hannity's executive producer, who was in Cincinnati to produce Hannity's show. 
 
 Furious, top officials recalled Hannity back to New York to do his show in his regular studio. The network plans to do an extensive post-mortem about the incident with Finley and Hannity's staff. 
 
 “Fox News never agreed to allow the Cincinnati Tea Party organizers to use Sean Hannity’s television program to profit from broadcasting his show from the event," said Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president of programming. "When senior executives in New York were made aware of this, we changed our plans for tonight’s show.” 
 
 Critics of Fox News have accused the network of promoting the Tea Party even as it covers the political movement as a news story. A spokeswoman for the network said that Neil Cavuto was the only host other than Hannity at a Tea Party event Thursday, stressing that Cavuto was covering the Atlanta event for both Fox News and Fox Business Channel, not attending as a participant. Carl Cameron provided news coverage of the Tea Party events around the country out of Washington. 
 
 -- Matea Gold (Follow me on Twitter.) 
 
 Photo credit: Associated Press
– After promoting the Tea Party for months, Fox News yesterday yanked Sean Hannity from a major tax day rally and fundraiser sponsored by the maverick movement. The action comes a week after big cheese Rupert Murdoch ordered that Fox should not be supporting the Tea Party. Hannity was called back as he was heading to the Cincinnati event by angry Fox bosses, reports the Los Angeles Times. Hannity had been listed as the rally headliner and his web site directed people to a Tea Party site to purchase $5-$20 tickets for the event. "Fox News never agreed to allow the Cincinnati Tea Party organizers to use Sean Hannity's program to profit from broadcasting his show from the event," said Fox VP for programming Bill Shine. Last week at a talk in Washington, Fox owner Murdoch said: "I don't think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any party." Staffers got into trouble last year when they were caught on video pumping up the crowd at a Tea Party rally. In another sign of its change of heart, Fox News this month published an article examining the party's "cringe-making" fringe.