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June 11, 2009

Left Moves Right Past Truth to Slander

Justin Katz

Somehow the Washington Post, via the mouth of U.S. News and World Report's Alex Kingsbury manages to pull pro-lifers and free-marketers under the same umbrella as Islamic radicals as a means of retroactively absolving Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano of the need for embarrassment over her department's politically motivated report warning of pending right-wing terrorism:

In the past two weeks, the country has seen the bombing of a Starbucks coffee shop in New York City, the arrest of four men for allegedly plotting to blow up synagogues and shoot down planes, the shooting of two soldiers at an Army recruitment center in Arkansas, the assassination of a doctor inside a Kansas church, and the shooting at the Holocaust Museum.... Although these are not all cases of right-wing extremism, each is an example of domestic terrorism.

That's right. A report that warned that newly returned veterans might be a stalking ground for recruitment by conservative villains is said to be vindicated in part by the murder of a military recruiter by a jihadi. Could a notion be more worthy of scorn?

Andy McCarthy does a fine job with the response that is unfortunately necessary in the face of such rhetoric. Paring the list of supposed evidence down to the fifty-something killer of an abortionist and the octogenarian white supremacist who attacked the Holocaust Museum, McCarthy explains:

The DHS report was noxious because it smeared conservatives as bigots and claimed, in the absence of any evidence that "rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits" — including from returning military veterans — in preparation for a spate of terrorism. (Who's the new recruit? The 88-year-old Nazi?) It insinuated that traditional conservative policy positions (pro-federalism, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, anti-illegal-immigration) were drivers of extremism. And it contended — in contravention of standard law-enforcement guidelines and federal law — that federal and state agencies should undertake pro-active investigations on the basis of constitutionally protected beliefs and activities.
Comments

Welcome to the world of the left, where the Bush administration routinely associated peaceful protest with terrorism, protecting us from such "threats" as Quaker church groups and raging grannies.

Ruth Robertson of the Raging Grannies, who provided songs for the San Francisco rally, says, “I guess they still don’t get it that grannies in flowery hats are peaceable.”

Gail Sredanovic of the Raging Grannies makes an additional point: “Aside from the disturbing civil liberties aspects of the Pentagon spying on local peace groups, it makes me scared to think that the folks in charge of protecting us from possible terrorist attacks can't tell the difference between a terrorist threat and a peaceful citizen gathering. Are they really that stupid?”

While you try to make this a partisan attack, I should note that both this report and the report on leftwing threats were begun under the Bush administration! The threat assessment that has you so up in arms was in fact based on a Bush administration 2008 FBI report which concluded:

[C]urrent and former military personnel belonging to white supremacist extremist organizations who experience frustration at the inability of these organizations to achieve their goals may choose to found new, more operationally minded and operationally capable groups.

All (to my knowledge) without comment on this blog. Could a notion be worthy of scorn? Welcome to the viewpoint of the left, comrade!

Posted by: Russ at June 11, 2009 2:20 PM

Russ


I'm all for the big tent and all, but bringing in Justin is where I draw the line. Besides I think he likes the role of victim and invents slights, smears and slander to sustain his paranoid daydreams.

Posted by: Phil at June 11, 2009 3:51 PM

Somehow the Washington Post, via the mouth of U.S. News and World Report's Alex Kingsbury manages to pull pro-lifers and free-marketers under the same umbrella as Islamic radicals as a means of retroactively absolving Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano of the need for embarrassment over her department's politically motivated report warning of pending right-wing terrorism:

In the past two weeks, the country has seen the bombing of a Starbucks coffee shop in New York City, the arrest of four men for allegedly plotting to blow up synagogues and shoot down planes, the shooting of two soldiers at an Army recruitment center in Arkansas, the assassination of a doctor inside a Kansas church, and the shooting at the Holocaust Museum.... Although these are not all cases of right-wing extremism, each is an example of domestic terrorism.<<<

By my count the libs get credit for the 4 ex-cons in NY hating on America (a very big symptom of the leftist disease) and wanting to blow up synagogues and planes.....the lefties definitely get credit for the shooter of the military recruiter.....any sane person on either side could be responsible for the highly justified bombing of (ANY) Starbucks (wink wink)....the right gets credit for the evil killer who killed the evil millionaire murderer of 60,000 children......nobody gets credit for the all-hating 88 year old kook who killed a guard at the Holocaust museum. Sorry libs, I know this is a sad day for you when it became known today that the museum shooter had an intense hatred for "neo-cons" (lib code for right-wing Jews) at the Weekly Standard. What a bummer for you guys huh?? Watch how that little factoid gets "lost" in the state run media. lol
So when we look at the rash of recent violence as summarized by Alex Kingsbury the actual tally of blame is:
5 - left wing
1 - right wing
1 - wash
1 - great American patriot attempting to snuff out Starbucks
This tally is further proof that Janet Napolitano's "conclusions" were and are all wet with her silly and highly political attempts to demonize the right in her DHS report.

Posted by: Tim at June 11, 2009 4:11 PM

.....and just this week we have NObama's spiritual leader spreading yet more love and tolerance throughout the land as only liberals can. lol


The Rev. Jeremiah Wright said that President Obama hasn't spoken to him since they parted ways last year, because "them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me."

He suggested White House advisers were keeping the two separate.

"Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office," Wright said, according to Virginia's Daily Press. "They will not let him ... talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is."

"Love is in the air..........

Posted by: Tim at June 11, 2009 4:32 PM

Thanks, Tim, for reminding us that slander has been and continues to be the go-to technique for many on the right. "Libs" hate America and Jews, blah, blah, blah.

Your selective list of terror attacks above is illuminating in that it's obvious you haven't actually read the report, which specifically mentions the shooting of the three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 4, 2009 "influenced by [the gunman's] racist ideology and belief in antigovernment conspiracy theories."

Hey, why bother actually reading it, right? Kind of ironic that you misuse the word "factoid" in repeating this dittohead nonsense.

Factoid: an inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media.
Posted by: Russ at June 11, 2009 4:35 PM

Fact
When it comes to nut-jobs,no side has a monopoly

Katz vs Crowley are proof

the wacko right vs wacko left

Posted by: Jake at June 11, 2009 5:48 PM

Russ try to follow along. The violent acts I cited were the ones being "spun" by liberal spinster Alex Kingsbury which Justin quoted in his piece on this topic. I didn't pick out those examples your liberal spinster Alex did. I simply used his own examples to blow up the argument he was trying and failing miserably to make.

With regard to the word "factoid" once again you are lost in the wilderness.

Factoid
fac·toid
Pronunciation: \ˈfak-ˌtȯid\
a briefly stated and usually trivial fact

My use of the word in the following sentence is spot on in describing how the state run media will view/deal with the shooters hatred of right-wing folk.
(In fact their interest in the story is already waning now that they realize the kook hated righties too. Oooops!!)

"Watch how that little factoid gets "lost" in the state run media. lol"
Perfect word!!

dittohead, Russ??? lol
Don't you libs ever get tired of obsessing over any and all things Rush Limbaugh?? Hilarious! Quite creepy and demented but hilarious.

Posted by: Tim at June 11, 2009 8:26 PM

Hey, Mailer coined the term. I say it means what he said it means. The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things. Next you're going to tell me slithy toves aren't something like badgers, lizards, and corkscrews!

Posted by: Russ at June 11, 2009 11:04 PM

Russ-I hear it's going to be brillig tommorrow afternoon.

Posted by: joe bernstein at June 11, 2009 11:35 PM