Eugene Robinson:
There’s profit for the pundits, and perhaps personal advantage for some politicians, in calling President Obama a “socialist” and calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a “racist Latina” and claiming that Democrats want to “take away your guns”—in creating and nurturing a sense of grievance among those inclined to be aggrieved. But what about those who might not understand that it’s all just political theater?Update: Toles has an excellent cartoon:
The Homeland Security memo made the assessment that “lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent right-wing extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States.” It recalled an April 4 incident in which three Pittsburgh-area police officers were killed, and said “the alleged gunman’s reaction reportedly was influenced by his racist ideology and belief in anti-government conspiracy theories related to gun confiscations, citizen detention camps, and a Jewish-controlled ‘one world government.’ ”
It’s clear that James von Brunn was a firm believer in this whole insane scenario long before the financial meltdown or Obama’s election. Maybe it was his personal financial situation that allegedly pushed him over the edge. Maybe he reached a point of no return years ago, when he made a bizarre attempt to take members of the Federal Reserve Board hostage.
What we don’t know is whether all the blast-furnace rhetoric coming from the right is giving validation and encouragement to some confused, angry man or woman with a rifle or a truck full of fertilizer—the next “lone wolf,” preparing to howl.
