More Fake Outrage

We touched on the kerfuffle over the Dept. of Homeland Security report on Domestic terror threats (here) but I'd like to go back to that subject, since it fits in with another recent post(here).

The feigned outrage coming from the right over this report is astounding. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. Here, for example, is a posting by someone named Warner Todd Huston, at the website "RedState.com"

Alright all you right-wing thugs out there, now that tax day is over, Obama and his pals are saying you are dangerous and that your tax protests are an act of revolution. It is amusing that they’ve never said that with the many riots past and present spread by left-wingers in the US — after all little “right-wing” violence has ever been seen here —
but there you have it. It’s all YOU.

Riiiiiiight, very little "right-wing" violence has been seen in this country. Unless you count the Oklahoma City bombing, The Olympic Park bombing, the "Army of God," the Knoxville church shooting,The Phineas Priesthood's string of bank robberies, the murder of Matthew Shepard, the "order" murdering Alan Berg, Benjamin Nathaniel Smith's 3-day shooting rampage, the Aryan Nations, the World Church of the Creator, various and sundry militia groups, dozens of arsons and bombings at abortion clinics, assorted plots to assassinate Obama, etc.But other than that, no, not really much right-wing violence. Do go on. . . .

And on the heels of that Democrat take over we have seen the frightening abuse of policing powers evinced by Obama’s Department of Homeland Security that has released a so-called threat assessment that seems to assume that every American that holds center right views is dangerous and declaring that nearly half the electorate is prone to “right-wing terrorism.”

Wow, where to begin? You must know damn well that the report says nothing of the kind. Or do you really think that the report's references to "white supremacist and violent anti-government groups" refers to "anyone with center-right views"? You can't be that stupid. Of course you aren't. I see what you're doing here. Trying to make it seem like conservatives are this powerless, oppressed minority being scapegoated by the big, bad democrats, even though this report was commissioned by the Bush Administration, and does not accuse mainstream conservatives of being allied with extremist groups. You're the one who is implying that garden-variety conservatives are akin to these violent fringe groups.

You're counting on the high probability that no one in your audience has actually read the report, which is a pretty safe bet.
Look, the report is only 10 pages long, andi's pretty large type with lots of bullet points (no pun intended). One page is the title and DHS logo, one page is the table of contents, so it's really only 8 pages to read. Look. You can read it right here.

Here is radio talker Laura Ingraham on the O'Reilly show:

we have a Department of Homeland Security issuing reports about right-wing extremism and equating, you know, domestic terrorism with, you know,
the vets coming home from Iraq

No, you know, they certainly do not, you know, equate soldiers with terrorists. What they do say, is that" rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans" (as happened with Tim McVeigh when he returned from the first Gulf War.)

And here's loudmouth buffoon sean Hannity speaking to a "tea party" in Atlanta:

if you have a pro-life bumper sticker on your car, if you have an 'America is overtaxed' bumper sticker, if you have a pro-Second Amendment bumper sticker, they're viewing you potentially as a radical.

"The Homeland Security Department is probably checking the license plates of everybody here."

Oh, good one sean! because these nuts aren't already paranoid enough, now tell them they're being stalked by the DHS! Brilliant! What could possibly go wrong with stoking the fires of misdirected fear and rage?

And here's loonie without portfolio Michelle Malkin:

"[W]hat we're seeing is -- what we've seen with this White House and with the Department of Homeland Security smearing of people who are patriots."

Now, she may actually be pignorant (TM) enough to believe this absurd hogwash, but even she probably knows that this is bullshit. Hell, even a few people at FOX realize this!

Here's an exchange between FOX host Shepard Smith and correspondent Catherine Herridge in which FOX producers forgot to edit out the sanity:

On Studio B, Smith asked Herridge of the report, "Who and what are they talking about here? I mean, this isn't about these -- this isn't about tea party folks." Herridge replied:

No, essentially the driver in these intelligence assessments is the downturn in the economy. What they say essentially is that when people have less money, they're out of work, they feel disenfranchised, this is fertile ground for groups on the left as well as groups on the right.

And you remember from reporting on this show, Shep, that even at the end of last year, prior to the inauguration, the Homeland Security Department under the Bush administration was sounding the alarm about the potential for right-wing groups to act, specifically because of the economy, and also because America was going to have its first African-American president.

Herridge also noted that the DHS report "does talk specifically about returning veterans as being sort of attractive targets for these groups, because they've got the weapons training and they may feel somewhat disenfranchised when they return for a variety of returns." She later added, referring to the reports on left-wing and right-wing extremists, "I would point out that both of these assessments, Shep, were commissioned under the Bush administration. It takes some time to do them. They only came out after he had left office."


So just knock it off with the phony outrage already. Your faux-righteous indignation is not fooling anyone with the sense God gave a mule; but as you know, ther are a lot of people out there who don't have any damn sense and they're your core audience. Why do you need to drive these simpletons even crazier? Don't you know someone is going to get hurt?