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Right-Wing Terror Returns
Karen Bleier, AFP / Getty Images Getty Images
Wednesday's shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.—the second attack by a domestic terrorist in two weeks—killed one and left others injured. As details on the suspect, a white supremacist leader, come to light, a controversial government memo on right-wing terror earlier this year deserves another look.
To the nation's horror, a much-maligned Department of Homeland Security memo on right-wing extremism is looking more accurate by the day. With news of a horrific incident of domestic terrorism Wednesday at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the second major attack by a far-right gunman in less than two weeks, the government's warnings may have been dismissed too easily by critics who decried them as a smear against conservatives.
The shooter at the Holocaust Memorial Museum was James W. Von Brunn, an 88-year old neo-Nazi with a passionate hatred for all things Jewish. One security guard killed; another was wounded in the attack, in addition to Von Brunn, who was shot by security guards. Von Brunn's Web site includes a long list of anti-Semitic and xenophobic statements and notes that he served several time in jail after he "was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for 11 years by a Jew judge."
With high-profile attacks allegedly by far-right lunatics occurring within a week of each other, it seems the government's warnings deserve a second look and its critics may owe Homeland Security officials an apology.
The museum attack comes ten days after the assassination of George Tiller, the Kansas physician whose abortion procedures made him a national focus of the pro-life movement. In that case, a longtime antiabortion extremist, Scott Roeder, targeted Tiller in a church, according to officials who charged him with first-degree murder.
The two cases closely mirror hypothetical examples provided by a recent Department of Homeland Security memo, which many right-wing commentators attacked as a deliberate indictment of mainstream conservatives. The memo warned that the election of a black president, combined with hardening economic times, could lead to a repeat of the 1990s, when “white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion, inter-racial crimes, and same-sex marriage" successfully led to new recruits and a surge in violence that culminated in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The report cited as evidence a deadly attack on three police officers in April by a man claiming to be concerned that the president would take away his weapons and herd people into concentration camps under a Jewish-controlled government, all of which were longtime tropes of right-wing militia groups. That attack is looking disturbingly more like a sign of things to come than an aberration.
At the time of the memo's release, conservative commentator Michelle Malkin (whose Web site's latest post, in a tragic coincidence, features a mashup of Obama's name with a Nazi eagle) described the piece as a "hit job on conservatives" and Newt Gingrich described the memo as "smearing" conservatives and veterans. Although the Homeland Security study was originally begun by the Bush administration, some went so far as to accuse the White House of deliberately concocting the memo in order to delegitimize “Tea Party” protests, which here held to oppose Obama's economic policies.
With high-profile attacks allegedly by far-right lunatics occurring within a week of each other, it seems the government's warnings deserve a second look and its critics may owe Homeland Security officials an apology.
Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
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Violence is wrong whether from the left or right. Unfortunately, is does seem that most of the "homegrown" terrorism in recent years has come from individuals with "ultra right" viewpoints. I don't understand why this is, but I do know that there does seem to be a lot of "right" commentators actively ginning up their listeners with angry, over the top rhetoric. The whole situation is just tragic and there should be some accountability by all commentators, no matter their political viewpoints.
Hey Sarlin, if you have a quota to fill, if yo have to pump out 5 or 6 articles a day, try writing about home furnishings or illustrated children's books. This is some pure shit with a bag of spin on the side. Your pen has officially been revoked.All these acts are reactionary, so... my so called journalistic friend, write about the cause/effect objectively. This bias keystrokin' is making me sick.
This bias keystrokin' he's making seems a helluva lot safer than using a gun to make his point.
As a matter of fact, I am working on an illustrated children's book! It's a touching tale of a young athlete overcoming adversity to become a celebrated runner. Thanks for the encouragement.
If Hitler and Nazi's were considered
Left-Wing, Socialist, Anti-Semetic, Racists . . .
. . . how is this Neo-Nazi considered " Right Wing ? "
Maybe the "Left Wing" should be "responsible" for this one.
Any chance former KKK member Lefty DEMOCRAT Robert Byrd
influenced the shooter ?
I was trying to figure that out?! It makes no difference since nuts are crazy and in a class all their own but I've been hearing this argument all day.
Hitler and the Nazi's are generally considered to be far-right, the name they chose notwithstanding. The only people who claim otherwise nowadays are right wing apologists for far right.
But you know that, right?
I love how Right-Wingers try to 'define' things away. Another example:
"Marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman", as if the world never changes, advances, becomes enlightened, or otherwise progresses.
this is a common mistake. While Hitler's party named themselves the National Socialist Party they were as Socialist as the People's Republic of China is a Republic. Nazism is an extension of Facism, a far conservative movement. Facism and Socialism are actually, by definition, opposites. Socialism is when the Government runs the Corporations, and Facism is when the Corporations run the Government. Socialists were actually one of the groups rounded up and put to death in the Holocaust, so saying Nazis are Socialist is an affront to their deaths. As for Robert Byrd, while he is a Democrat, he is also a conservative. The Democratic party was the conservative party until the 1920s and in many regions of the south it took much longer for the change to happen
Your thesis statement is incorrect. Hitler, Nazis, fascists were and are on the "Right"
Stalin, Red Russians, Communists are on the "Left". That characterization has existed since about 1914. Hasn't changed in all that time.
It's funny and sad he actually had no clue. He really thought the Nazi's were liberals.
See what happens when you start to throw around names when you have no idea of the meaning.
Does this mean in Fox world so called Socialist Nazi's are the same as what they consider Liberal Socialist.
Now that explains the Obama is like Hitler talk.
You Uneducated idiots.
Hey, sophie and squiggy: Like, duh? Facists, of which Nazis are the extreme variety, are about as far right as you can get. Didn't you pick that up in your GED curriculum?
Take a few minutes and read themightyseven's description, above. Then maybe go rethink your usual political comments.
These comments are hilarious. Conservative, Liberal, Socialist, Fascist, Right, Left all have meanings that are difficult to pin on one group. So let's just define people on what they believe rather than lump them all into one group. Just because some one shoots up an abortion clinic or halocaust museum does not mean they belong to a right-wing group, just as muslim extremists do not belong to right wing groups. They belong to the insane group of people.
Both Hitler and Stalin favored strong government control of society. They both killed millions in order to achieve that. Who cares what side of the political spectrum they were on? Their insane policies had devastating effects on mankind.
I am a libertarian. Not liberal, left, conservative, right, capitalist, socialist. Everyone should be free to form their own groups of like minded people, but don't force me to join your group. If what I advocate is considered conservative by some, such as conserving the U.S. Constitution, then so be it. What's yours is yours, and mine is mine. Don't ask me to pay your doctor bill, and I won't ask you to pay mine. I hardly think these are extreme beliefs, but to the current administration, they might be. They conflict with "redistributing the wealth", which completely ignores how wealth was created in the first place.
We work for the government almost a third of the year (to pay our taxes, or to pay for corporations' taxes).
Left, Right, yada yada, ARE YOU FREE?
Themightysven has got it right. To call the Nazis left is to misunderstand entirely what they were doing and why. This is what comes of only reading labels, without digging into the details.
No, sorry, themightysven, connie47.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nazi_Germany
There was plenty of state intervention and control. Hardly right-wing, free-market philosophies. To say Fascism is the opposite of Socialism is like saying Red is the opposite of Yellow. It's a false dichotomy. There's also Capitalism, Communism, and Anarchy.
The U.S. started with Capitalism and Anarchy and now, with the never ending growth of government, we're somewhere between Fascism and Socialism.
Want proof? Bush/Obama: corporate favors, new entitlements. Same old story.
In 1930's America the folks who supported the Nazi cause here were from the right and the people who supported the Communists here came from the left...It was the leftist Abraham Lincoln brigade, who went to Spain to fight against the Nazi supported right wing Spanish government during the Spanish civil war, it's historical fact, you can look it up... Read "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell, a great book for an entertaining historical breakdown of the contemporary political movements...The theoretical superiority of the white Aryan race was the foundation of the Nazi idea and the people who support that concept today are still from the right just as it was in 1930's America....But you don't have to be a Nazi if you like Rush Limbaugh.
abigdeal,
So-called leftists were persecuted under Hitler. His strong military nationalism is, when taken to the lengths that he did, an extreme right-wing ideology.
The extremes on either side should be marginalized and are equally dangerous. The extreme left has to claim Stalin, the extreme right Hitler.
Connie47,
1) Hitler was very socialist, which is communism but with private property. Not Right.
2) Hitler was only directly responsible for 10-20 million people, mostly during war. If you add up all of the deaths of communist regimes, it's well over 100 million, and most of that was police action or devastating economic policies that caused starvation. A perfect example is North Korea. There's no equivalent on "the Right" today.
3) There are other possibilities than a hybrid Fascist/Socialist Nazi regime and a Communist Soviet regime. So to look at it one dimensionally with those at the opposite ends of the scale is to be very closed minded.
It's more helpful to visualize the differences between radical right and radical left to picture these worldviews as NOT existing on an A-to-B line (like a number line) but instead, to picture the worldviews as a circle, with far left and far right almost directly next to each-other. Both viewpoints are totallitarian/have some sort of dictator at the helm, both viewpoints vilify that-which-is-different from the "pary line", both are obsessed with nationalism and patriotism (be it "Mother Russia etc." or "Father Germany" etc.)
abigdeal,
You're way too myopic and defensive about the extreme right. If we all agree that only people left of center are evil, will you be happy? Sorry, but we can't do that. Calling people closed minded is the pot calling the kettle black.
Hilter wasn't far right, he was far left.
connie47,
When DHS and this "reporter" claim my views (smaller government, individual rights) are extremist just because some nutjob who doesn't even share any of my views shoots up a Holocaust museum, you're damn right I'm going to defend my views against the truly evil ones, especially when big governments of all kinds have killed far, far more people than these extremist groups.
The DHS could have lumped in all forms of extremism as its target, and then we wouldn't be having this conversation. It was divisive.
KateTheGreat- you're right, but a circle is a little confusing since the far Right becomes the far Left. I think the Political Compass is a better way to visualize the political "spectrum" since it uses two dimensions: Economics and Freedom (fiscal and social). If your believe your way is the right way for everyone, then you're authoritarian. If you believe everyone's way is the right way, then you're libertarian. But you need some level of government control to keep the peace. Hopefully as a peace keeper of last resort. There's no reason why private citizens can't be peace keepers.
www.politicalcompass.org
Nice try, entirely unconvicing though. read and comprehend the responses to your own uninformed post.
Hilter accomlished what he did by merging church and state just like the far-right fascism movement in America led by Antonin Scalia perpetuated since the 1930s worldwide.
Right-wing all the way
abigdeal,
Nobody has claimed that your ideas (smaller government and individual rights) are extremist. The fact that you think they did is, to me, bizarre. It also means no exchange of ideas is possible, so bye and have a nice day.
connie,
Wake up. Here are the exact words from the DHS memo:
"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
"rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority"
Most everyday conservatives are in that group.
It's divisive. Have a nice day.
Violence is wrong on the left and the right. I thought liberals were pussies who can't do anything. It's just the right. Just the right-wing. Nobody is killing people over national healthcare or unemployment benefits.
Pussies that can't do anything? How about The Marshall Plan, the GI Bill, the Student Loan Program, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid for indigents, Unemployment Compensation? All of these were "done" by "lib'ruls" with strenuous opposition from Rethugs.
Even welfare reform was under Clinton. Reagan or Bush 41 never put forth a program for that. Republicans have been engaged in name-calling and cheap sloganeering for 60 years without doing a goddamn thing.
Even the God With Feet of Clay, Ronald Reagan, never submitted a balanced budget, but Clinton did. He was the first prez since Ike to begin to pay down the national debt.
Come on folks. This is total bull. This has nothing to do with the ring-wing. This guy is a total nut-job. End of story. No need to bring politics into the conversation.
and left-wing terror never left. An 88 year old man with a reduced Social Security check who sadly snapped should not be labeled a right-wing anything. He was old, desperate and crazy. Look, we've got too many Obama voters leaving dead bodies in the streets of every major city EVERYDAY. Let's focus on the everyday problems too.
Why are we perpetually surprised at the behavior of extremists?
Doesn't matter what the extremist is against, and it's always something.
Matters that the extremists justifies his/her decision to use violence to make his/her point by saiying that it is 'the right' thing to do.
Horsefeathers.
If someone attempts to break into one's home and one defends oneself and one's family with violence, that is justifiable.
Killing civilians and innocent bystanders to make an ideological point is stupid.
IT NEVER WORKS!
But those whack-jobs, fruitcakes and nut-jobs from every spectrum keep trying, and people keep dying.
Don't blame this latest on conservative politics. Jihadists are among the most conservative persons on earth.
Blame this right where it belongs - one single, deranged many who was not put in prison, and kept there, when he should have been.
i agree with this. i consider myself quite liberal, but i'm not willing to pin this on republican political figures. there is and always will be crazy people under any political affiliation, and while i do think that incendiary political hacks like limbaugh and o'reilly (and, arguably, olbermann) are doing more harm than good, i don't think it's appropriate to blame something like this on them - at least not entirely. we're talking about very clearly deranged, ignorant, out-there people who most likely would have done these terrible things with or without the alleged 'encouragement' of news shows.
O' Reilly and Rush should be imprisoned for encouraging these psychos. This is what conservatives are becoming. White supremacist neo- nazi's.
I watch O'Reilly at times, and have listened to Rush when driving at times. Somehow I must miss the neo nazi part of their program. Would that mean Olberman andt the MSM is responsible for the Muslim killing the US service?
They are both...I guess the term is "smarter" then that, though I don't consider either particularly intelligent. They do not say such things explicitly, you can't get away with that any more. Instead they use the old Nixon "Southern Strategy" where you say everything except what you are getting at. They use cues that these types pick up on instead of saying directly racist or extremist things.
O'Riley would never say "assassinate Tiller" but he will say its justifiable, he will call Tiller a murderer who in effect deserves the death penalty ect.
Glenn Beck will never say shoot 3 cops in front of your house, but he will play into the paranoia of someone who would. He will tell them the authorities are coming to take your guns and put you in a FEMA prison camp.
Are they responsible for the actions of those who take their rhetoric seriously? Maybe, maybe not. Either way it is irresponsible to feed into such paranoia. The equating of Obama with a nazi on Malkin's site is just one of many examples.
Like the old adage from the supreme court about the limits of protected speech goes, "you can't shout fire in a crowded theatre".
You must not be listening very closely. The bile those guys spew is unbelievable. You cant simply disagree with them.. even if you're in their party. Its all "Hes a traitor, Hes a murderer, Hes a fascist..." The language is so inflammatory its no wonder it drives people with a questionable hold on sanity to do these kinds of things. The people who call into those shows are scary.. I mean, what exactly is a "Dittohead..?" It doesnt sound like something particularly favorable to me, but its what Rush's listeners identify themselves as.. It may be these crazy people pulling the trigger.. but its people like Rush who are loading the gun, .
On a side note: He used a handgun during this shooting, a weapon that was ILLEGAL to own in DC before the conservative appointed justices overturned the law.. because clearly MORE guns make us MORE safe..... I wonder how many more people are going to die in DC before they realize their mistake.
austinite,
get your facts straight, he used 22-caliber rifle. so you cannot blame that on conservatives, unless of course you think that even a 22 should be outlawed. (by the way that is what the nazis in Germany did, made it illegal to own any gun)
And why is an idiotic white supremicist psycho somehow a conservative? Robert Byrd was a KKK Exhulted Cylops.
And as others have stated, where was the outrage when the converted Muslim killed the US servicemen outside the recruiting office. And I man the outrage agains the hard-core left wing for inciting him to kill our servicemen.
We should all be outraged that nutjobs kill because they are nutjobs and they kill!!!
I have never heard Olbermann call someone a "killer." Or better yet, a "baby killer." In fact, he's usually demeaning the wingnuts for their hypocrisy and meanspritedness. Since you know so little about history, it's useless to explain that Beck and his ilk are insane. The recent Washington Times columnist who called President Obama a "Muslim" is also in this category.
This is not free speech. It is criminal speech. Wingnuts like to compare all of this to the opprobrium aimed at Shrub as "hate speech." Bush was not hated, merely despised. Hate is too strong a word to describe a failure who never ceased to disappoint.
As for the .22 rifle used by the terrorist. If you've ever read the warning on an ammunition box, you'll know it is lethal up to a mile. I have done a great deal of target shooting, so I know what I'm saying.
In light of this rash of right wing terror attacks, the considerable cost of maintaining security for President Obama is a pittance. I remember the assassinations of the sixties. We never want to see them repeated. Until the wingnut commentators get this in their heads, they are culpable for ANY act of terrorism in this country.
As for the deranged Muslim terrorist in Little Rock, he is the product of eight years of cowardly policies of the Cheney presidency.
Hey Zero: If you watch & listen to O'Reilly, Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity, and you can't see how they're using cheap sloganeering and demagoguery, then go take a Critical Thinking 101 course, or at the very least read the above answers to your post. Especially politico83's.
Hey Zero, you then must have missed the Oklahoma City Bombing by Timothy McVeigh, which Rush and the Right wing media encited by their anti- goverment rhetoric.
Theopitt
The DC gun ban required that all RIFLES be kept unloaded and disassembled or trigger locked. And the Supreme Court overturned the law to the extent that handguns became legal. Yes, it was the Supreme Court that diminished the gun law of the District of Columbia over the votes of its citizens. There is always outrage when something likes this shooting happens; but none when a majority democratic vote is canceled. I believe your argument that Byrd was KKK has been answered elsewhere.
So does that sound like a Nazi gun ban to you??? If there ever were such a thing.
maybe if we held The Black Panthers, Bill Ayers, Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda accountable 40 years ago, everyone would be more inclined to obey the laws.
But... we did hold a lot of them accountable. Many many many black panther members went to jail, just for being affiliated with the group, not even for any proven actions. In fact, a lot of innocent people who weren't affiliated with those groups ended up getting bagged and tagged at other peaceful demonstrations just because those groups had a presence. In one fateful and sad instance innocent protesters at a college were shot and killed.
This user is no longer registered.
The Panthers were held accountable. They were killed or imprisoned. Bill Ayers served his time. As did Tom Hayden. Whatever you think of the propriety of Fonda's actions, they were not illegal.
How about we hold more recent law breakers accountable. For example Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, etc. That way future officials will be deterred from repeating their misdeeds..
First Amendment-----remember?
Sorry USEBURNERS, missed the part about when Jane Fonda shot someone...do tell it again..
Sadly, yes, it seems the memo was right. And unless all of us and the media take a firm stand against this here and now, it will continue. Fox can say whatever they want, we know that their wink and nod is a contributing factor in the frothing at the mouth conservative mood these days. According to them and the hate filled daily right wing talk radio diatribe, Obama can do no right and liberals are at fault for everything that's gone wrong in this country. Add to that a loathing for gays, jews, and people of color and you have a very potent hate cocktail being drunk by the right wing crazies day after day. Ya think this might have something to do with right wing violence on the rise? Yeah.
I think we also need to add the Muslim convert killing USA servicmen because they wear the uniform when discussing this suject.
If this was a broader article about homegrown extremism I would agree. However, this article specifically addresses the HLS memo regarding right wing extremist groups and how it was mocked and derided by supposedly non-extremist right wingers who enjoy stirring the pot.
This user is no longer registered.
No actually, the one attack against those recruiters was the one attack in a good long while. I guarantee that any time there are these attacks they'll be highly publicized and politicized. The attack against the recruiters was from a different group and so covered by different reports.
The difference here is that typically these reports go unreported because they aren't politicized. This report about right wing extremist groups was politicized by the right claiming it was an attack on them, despite there being a similar report on the left months earlier. If not for the right bringing it up you'd have never heard about this report.
Why isn't a Muslim convert part of the "right-wing"?
Doesn't religion put you on the right?
what?
religion = right-wing?
is that sarcasm or ignorance? do tell.
OK, why is anti-abortion right wing?
That's why this article and the DHS report are meaningless crap. Just because Hitler thought of himself as right-wing in contrast to Stalin, does not make anti-semitism or hate in general a right-wing position.
And Stalin just because he was on the Left, doesn't make him liberal. Extremism is extremism! It's not liberal OR conservative! It's crazy.
The actions of "White supremacists" have nothing to do with tea party people or returning vets which was the complaint from many about the DHS report. "White supremacists" are in a terror class of their own and have been a danger regardless of the administration in power. "Hatred of Jews" is a virus that has no political boundary.
Fox News will make sure all the right wing psycho terrorists will start doing their thing. We haven't seen anything yet.
It is refreshing and commendable that Pres. Obama's administration is not whipping his base up into a frenzy of fear and partisan politics over these incidents. In the past, a tragic events such as these, would be hotly exploited in order to fuel the fires of blame and anger that deepen the partisan divide and as a justification for the Bush/Cheney political agenda.
With high-profile attacks allegedly from far-right lunatics occurring within a week of each other, it seems the government's warnings deserve a second look and its critics may owe homeland security officials an apology.
*************************************
I doubt anyone will get an apology. When did you ever hear a righty accept responsility for anything. Not going to happen. Keep it up O'Reilly and Hannity. You are on a roll getting these kooks stirred up. Maybe you can go for a triple.
Ben,
It should embarrass you to allow a headline up on this site that "Right Wing Terror Returns" as if this was somehow some coordinated or broad movement.
If you recall, the controversy over the DHS memo was because our own Sec of Homeland Security put into a memo--and then released to to local law enforcement before recalling it--that pointed the finger of government suspicion at U.S. military veterans. Why? Because of an entire 2 veterans in the last 30 years who have committed acts of violence (Malvo and McVeigh). What you've done here is disgusting.
It is also time to reassess whether neo-nazzis and their ilk are properly categorized as "right wing." They are certainly not conservative in the sense that U.S. and Western political conservatives are - who among other things believe in true equality regardless of race or ethnicity. This is in contrast to the left who openly confer benefits and burdens based explicitly on race.
This is hatchet work not worthy of even a third-rate blogger.
Well said
Oh. You think that the Right should disown the skin-heads, the militiamen, and neo-Nazis, do you?
Since everyone sits somewhere on the left-right poilitical continuum, I am wondering just where you'd like to place someone who would bomb a federal building, murder a physician who provides legal abortion services, or make an armed attack on a holocaust museum.
If they are not with the Right, where are they?
Perhaps these nuts claimed they were with the Right, but the Right does not claim to be with them.
And I cannot believe how above (several messages above) the claim is made, yet again, that the Muslim convert who killed the Servicemen was the fault of Bush. I am sorry, but I cannot see the intellectual honesty in saying it was the fault of 8 years of Bush policy that caused this man to kill innocent men, then why not naturally say the policies of the current administration caused Von Brunn to kill.
But of course no one on this site will. No matter what bad happens for the next decade, many will blame Bush or conservatives.
theoPitt:
let me explain it to you. 8 years of bush policy antagonized the entire muslim world and put us in an very unpopular (on both sides) war and furthered tension between the US and the middle east. the muslim convert (another terrible, and unfortunately overlooked story) explicitly told police that he intended to "kill as many people in the Army as he could...because of what they had done to Muslims in the past". as stupid of a justification this is, it's clear that it was a direct response to the war.
in what way did the policies of the current administration cause von brunn to open fire on a holocaust museum? von brunn was a white supremacist and conspiracy theorist who believes that blacks and jews were uprooting and poisoning america. so obama caused this attack not by his policies but because... he's black? really? that's your argument? obama is actually at fault for this ignorance-fueled attack because of his race?
that's pretty stupid.
The report didn't target veterans it said that these groups would target veterans for recruitment because of their combat skills and experience. I have every respect for our troops in the broadest sense, however often times when they return they feel alone and unsupported. They have trouble readjusting to civilian life and are vulnerable to coercion by groups such as this.
I agree that returning veterans often to struggle and feel alienated and disillusioned when returning home from the otherworldly experience they have had. And event still, there has been ALMOST NO incidents of them committing terror, and there has been NO successful recruitment by other terror groups that we know of whatsoever. So casting aspersions on returning soldiers in the absence of ANY evidence is defamatory and disgusting - by our own government officials.
Gandolf-
You miss the point, the aspersions were not cast on the soldiers. Read the memo not the talking points. It's not about the likelihood of soldiers being recruited it's about the intent of these groups. These groups have a real intent, they are taking real actions to recruit returning soldiers. We need to protect them and provide them support that shows them that they are appreciated. That's the real intent of the memo.
No no no. The DHS memo was not right and never will be right. The objection to the memo was not that there are people within our borders that are lunitics but that people were being characterized as extremist lunitics simply for holding traditional american values of small government and less taxes as well as those who think abortion is wrong or that we should stringently protect our borders or that the two party system needs "change" by introduction of third party candidates. These are not extreme viewpoints and they are not markers of extremism. That some extremists and lunitics hold these views does not make these views extreme just like it is not extreme to protect our environment but it is extreme to boobytrap trees so that loggers are killed. Where has all the clear-headed thinking gone? Neither O'Reilly or Rush have anything to do with these nutjobs.
Yep. The people sensationalizing these events need to answer these questions:
What makes anti-semitism or anti-abortion Right-wing?
What wing are the Islamic terrorist groups or ELF in?
The ulterior motive here is to influence people in the center to move to one side or the other. But I thought Bush-Cheney and "the Right" were the only divisive ones.
This article is packed with lies.
DB has stooped to a new low with the headline, come on Tina... you know this isn't any Right Wing Terror, but simply bad story writing - I mean you can't call this journalism Tina!
Of you course you can call it journalism - Fox news (I use the term loosely) with its constant jabbering about the end of the world under the Obama administration is spoon feeding this garbage to every rightwing kook out there - slowly pushing them over the edge. If this isn't a story (and warning) in the making I don't know what it. I suppose you think Hannity, O'Reilly et al are the very embodiment of professional jouralism - Sad
JackJack, what part?
It cannot be the name calling because, as so clearly referenced better here by other folks, Fox, Limbaugh, etc., are the skilled ones in that area. Are you saying that this guy and Tiller's killer were not right wing nut jobs and that the incidents didn't happen a few weeks apart?
Statements made by certain radio and TV persons on the right could be feeding the egos of these crazy people purposefully or not. Or...is it that the far right can dish it out but they cannot take it when folks call them on it?
Can't you all rein in your base? You all sure love them when it comes to voting time...
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Spot on! Party first country last. Rush, Cheney and the whole lot should be shipped to Gittmo for some "enhanced interrogation".
Um, I hate to bring this up, but in fact there have been three domestic terror incidents in the last couple of weeks. Don't feed the trolls.
Make it 3, the von Brunn guy served in WWII. Terribly saddening.
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See ya.
About the title: the shooting today and even the Tiller murder were tragedies, but should not be counted as "domestic terrorism." The Oklahoma City bombing was domestic terrorism. Is it horrible? Yes, but to quote Chris Rock: "Shit's big, but don't make it bigger than it is."
An insane Neo-Nazi is hardly "right-wing" in any normative sense of the term. Sensationally blurring the line makes for good news but cheap journalism. This report refers to "far-right lunatics," whose only relation to the average citizen is the use of "right" should that citizen be conservative. Stalin was "left" and was responsible for the death of millions, but his "left" is hardly on the current American political spectrum. Lets call lunatics lunatics and keep them off the same scale as normal people with different views on the scope of government. Confusing the terms is unashamedly sensationalist and unfortunately naive.
Well said. Is bin Laden left or right? Why does that matter?
Communism has killed far more than any other ideology (google "communism death toll"). The Left probably is a little sensitive about that, which explains reactionary stories like this.
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Mr. Sarlin, by calling the actions of a Neo-Nazi "Right-Wing" implies that white supremacy has a seat at the table.
I consider myself a "Right-Winger" because I hold traditional conservative values. I am not a bigot nor do I intend to bring harm upon anyone.
Get used to it. Those of us with more liberal ideologies don't align with Communism in any regard, save for the superficial similarity of inhabiting the same area on a line relative to a center position. Yet it doesn't stop anyone (Rush , Newt, etc) from painting the straw man image of a socialist.
I cannot count the number of times that I have seen people on the Right attempting to disown the Nazis.
Could you take a moment to tell us where a Nazi lies on the right-left continuum? He is not on the right, you say? Does that make him a centrist or a left-winger? Those are the only other choices.
You could try being honest about the matter and admitting that the Right includes some truly unsavory individuals, just as do the Centre and the Left. Or is that asking too much maturity of you?
Okay I'll take a chance your question was not rhetorical.
Conservative = less government. Liberal = more government. Socialism, Fascism and Communism = more government therefore they are left or liberal. Total anarchy or no government is extreme right. The primary measure of right to left is amount of governmental control over our lives. In an absolute sense, the extreme left is an abdication of freedom; and the extreme right is an abdication of law.
Regarding unsavory to down-right evil characters; of course they exist in all facets of the political spectrum.
So you might ask; this doesn't make sense if Bush was considered a conservative. Your right it doesn't and President Bush is no conservative. He grew the size of government just like a true liberal would. Obama is being criticized by some Fox pundits as the most liberal President ever (non-wartime). He may achieve this by the end of his first term. But until then FDR ranks first and W ranks 2nd all-time.
Wrong. Facism invests power in Corporations, which are completely uncontrolled and unsupervised, therefore Facism is far right wing. Let's see, what are some current examples? How about Halliburton, KBR, Enron, Blackwater, and other profiteers from the last few years.
And the only reason Bush grew the size of government is that he was a total incompetent and could not even follow the precepts of his own half-assed ideology.
roger37:
Where did you get that nugget of misguided wisdom? Please cite a source, you clearly not well-read on political science. If you don't know anything about the subject it would be best for you to either learn or stay silent.
Would it be too much maturity for you to not insult someone in a conversation? You fortify the Left-Wing stereotype.
Federalist your entire post is a oxymoron.
You denied that Bush was a conservative which makes your entire nonsense of small/big gov as much credible as a denial kid crying no he didn't do it.
Please communicate in some sort of logical way that any reader can understand. If you have a substantive counter or a sourced alternative definition of Fascism - please cite. If not, take your nonsense show somewhere else.
Moron Communism comes from the extreme left.
Fascism comes from the Extreme Right.
If you think they're both left? why did the Nazis Fascist invade the Soviets Communism? Because they have the COMPLETE OPPOSITE IDEOLOGY MORON GO LEARN SOMETHING.
Epic fail.
There's more hate spewed from the left wing sites than than the right! Their nuts just don't have guns. No one is remotely suggesting that violence be used so it's not only unfair it's dangerous to suggest that people shouldn't speak their minds because of fear that a few nutcases might go off the deep end. There's no evidence that any of these people listened to the right wing talkers.
Please give me a forward to these "links". I would love to see try Liberal sites that house more hatred than these ultra-right websites. Please, go ahead and post them. I doubt the "links" you probably won't supply spew hatred, or are viably "Left wing".
There is much evidence the crazy nut bag that killed three police officers a few months back was indeed listening to Right-Wing talk radio.
The truths will come out. In the mean-time, I'll be kindly awaiting these "links" you speak of.
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Lol nice
I am feeling some hate in your rebuke to ThinkAgain. So we on the right are stupid, cannot right, we never work hard, we are dishonest, unpatriotic, indecent and dishonorable? Wow, if that is an honest exchange of ideas I hope to never see what you would consider hate.
Read the comments on this site, and read the comments on the Fox website.
Dont worry, you do not have to tell your friends and your eyeballs will not melt.
Then judge the hate by the comments.
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so you calling me all those names in "truth", not hate. Wow. But if I called the government taking over GM, Chrysler or healthcare socialist, I would probably be creating hate, huh?
You opinion is definately worth more than mine, because you are a liberal and you care and Obama is your God, and your party is in power and everyone else should just shut up. Because our opinion means nothing. We only create hate. You only spread truth.
You and your buddies are much closer to facsists than you know.. here is the Webster difinition: : "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition"
Dude....didn't you see Shepard Smith go off today on the fact that his emails are becoming more and more frightening. He acknowledges that Fox viewers are expounding extreme views about the President and his administration.....why is that? "Tiller the baby killer" being repeated on dozens of shows....volatile to say the least. Rush expounding on Obama's citizenship minutes before Von Braun (a denier of many truths) walked into the museum today and executed that guard. White supremists are right wing.......
Hey, let's face it! When the right wing nuts aren't in office the right wing wacks on the street think the sky is falling and wig out. Always happens and this is prime time for the crazies. Barack's in office....the economy is tanking, etc., etc., etc..
This is just the beginning of the tsunami!
This article is packed with lies.
DB has stooped to a new low with the headline, come on Tina... you know this isn't any Right Wing Terror, but simply bad story writing - I mean you can't call this journalism Tina!
It was terror perpetrated by someone with extreme right-wing views (nazism/facism = extreme right wing).
I guess you could call it "Hippy Commie Flower Killing" but that's not what it is.
A sick sort of fixation on ames W. Von Brunn seems to be contagious. The news is full of, not the news of the horrible shooting, but his personal views, (which were also horrible, but ridiculous). We hear that the Homeland Security memo was correct, "right-wing" terror may indeed be on the loose.
Except, of course, for the fact that deranged neo-Nazi has the almost no relation to the average GOP voter. This is not, as some claim, conservatives "distancing" themselves from the fringe. The right-wing fringe says our President wants to ruin the country; neo-Nazi's like this man think, as a quote I just saw on Rachel Maddow's (rather good) show put it, the Illuminati and Jews are secretly controlling and destroying the world. The real question should concern why such a comparison is even being made.
Look who's making broad slanderous statements about a totally benign portion of our society. Being conservative doesn't mean one is apt to lash out and kill innocent people. This author is disturbing the community harmony by branding perfectly responsible people of hating mankind. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is you Sarlin who is thinking hatefully and stirring up hysteria.
truth hurts.
Aw, did I hurt you widdow feewings?
I doubt it.
Being a conservative certainly doesn't make you a nut, in fact many of my views on certain topics are so conservative they verge on Libertarian.
However, these groups aren't actually conservatives they're radicals who identify with the conservative movement, particularly on the "social conservative" issues which a true constitutional conservative would call out as actually being quite liberal as they invite the government into your bedroom... but that's beside the point. The left has these groups too except in the last 30 years they've become much less violent.
People like Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh like to stir the pot in which these troubled groups and individuals rest. As the pot was already being stirred by them feeling they'd been knocked out of power, a black man being president and they're positions being repudiated by the American people this is not something to simply dismiss.
No they don't. It seems as though Republicans or Conservatives name is so bad they are trying to call themselves libertarians to distance themselves.
The truth is Conservatism has never been practiced by Conservatives.
If it was the Christian Right would not be in your party. You basically said it yourself.
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