Fox News' The Five co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle, sitting across from Eric Bolling -- who once accused President Obama of inviting “hoodlum[s]” to what he called the “hizzouse” -- tried to dispense with the issue of racism in America by simply pointing to Obama's election. The Five panelists were discussing actor/director Morgan Freeman's recent comments that what animates the tea party's opposition to Obama is racism. When co-host Bob Beckel pointed out that the “idea that suggests that we don't have racism rampant in a lot of parts of this country is crazy,” Guilfoyle replied: “OK. But, we nevertheless have a black president. So, there you go.”

During an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, Freeman stated that racism “underlines” the tea party's opposition to Obama. He argued that the “screw the country” attitude “to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here ... is a racist thing.”

On The Five, Beckel was the sole panelist willing to argue that Freeman's comments weren't so off-base, saying, “This is the right wing of the right wing of the Republican Party. You're gonna find some racists in it.”

Bolling, who has a history of making racially charged comments and was heavily criticized for his “hizzouse” remark (he later sort of apologized), replied: “There's no evidence, there's no proof of that.”

Guilfoyle called Freeman's comments “inflammatory” and asserted of the tea party's opposition to Obama: “I don't think it has anything to do with race at all.” She also said: “I mean, obviously, he's going a little Danny Glover, you know. I mean, that's what -- Danny Glover makes comments like that as well. I think he's wrong. I like Morgan Freeman a lot. I don't know how helpful that is to the Democratic Party, those statements he's making because I don't think it has anything to do with race at all.”

Guilfoyle later pushed back against Beckel's comment that racism is “rampant in a lot of parts of this country” by suggesting that Obama's election somehow disproved racism. If only that were true.

White nationalists reportedly routinely organize within tea party groups because they believe tea party supporters “share much common ground” with their political agendas. African-American congressmen have reportedly been harassed and denigrated with a racial epithet by tea party protesters. During the tea party protests of 2010, racist and racially charged signs and slogans were seen at numerous rallies. And it's not just the tea party. Indeed, Fox News and its personalities have a long history of aggressive race-baiting and racially charged commentary, which has not abated since Obama was elected.

The Daily Tribune News recently reported:

When Rome resident Kristy Spivey purchased the home at 46 Kingston Pointe Drive, she was elated. The joy she felt at having bought her first home, however, turned to anger and disappointment just hours after completing paperwork for the home.

On July 23, Spivey and her real estate agent had met at the Kingston home to go over documents, but on Sunday evening, Spivey, who is black, received a call informing her the residence had been vandalized -- “KKK” spraypainted in large black letters across the garage doors and a rear exterior wall.

“One of the neighbors told me this is the second time this has happened in two years to the exact same house,” she said. “It's ridiculous, it's awful. This was my chance to buy my first home, and I like the neighborhood and everything and then that happens.

”Of course I'm not going to live there because it's like, 'OK, well, if I move here, they've forewarned me. Will they burn the house down while I'm in it? Will they be burning a cross in my front yard? What's next?' "

New Jersey Republican lawmaker Pat Delany resigned last month because his wife reportedly sent an email that was labeled “offensive and racist.” In April, California Republican Marilyn Davenport, a tea party activist, emailed a racist “family photo” of Obama as a baby chimpanzee with two chimpanzee parents. She said she did so “because she thought it was funny.”

A few days after Obama was elected, the New York Times reported that "[o]ne white woman said she feared that blacks would now become more 'aggressive,' while another volunteered that she was bothered by the idea of a black man 'over me' in the White House."