Southern Poverty Law Center attacks tea parties, again

Unreal: a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Another group unable to defend the excessive liberalness of this administration’s policies so they resort to defaming the characters of those with whom they disagree as a last resort. It’s shameful, inherently prejudiced, and outright hillbilly.

One big difference from the militia movement of the 1990s is that the face of the federal government — the enemy that almost all parts of the extreme right see as the primary threat to freedom — is now black. And the fact that the president is an African American has injected a strong racial element into even those parts of the radical right, like the militias, that in the past were not primarily motivated by race hate. Contributing to the racial animus have been fears on the far right about the consequences of Latino immigration.

No, the face of the federal government is espousing policies that are further left from the policies of any previous president in history, but let’s ignore that. It’s easier to fight your opponent if you can make him look like a racist as opposed to someone who just has different ideas about the free market and limited government. (What was that about “diversity?”) Throw “militia” in for fun and worry all those people who think guns are scary!

Although there has been a remarkable rash of domestic terrorist incidents since Obama’s election in November, it has not reached the level of criminal violence, attempted terrorist attacks and white-hot language that marked the militia movement at its peak.

There has been a remarkable rash of them? Is the Southern Poverty Law Center referring to the tea parties and town halls held across America where there was no violence or arrests – except when Kathleen Sebelius called out for her union thugs to beat up innocent fellow Americans – or is SPLC referring to the violent, liberal pro-Hamas rallies in San Francisco; the violent liberal protest at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh?

The situation has many authorities worried. Militiamen, white supremacists, anti-Semites, nativists, tax protesters and a range of other activists of the radical right are cross-pollinating and may even be coalescing. In the words of a February report from law enforcement officials in Missouri, a variety of factors have combined recently to create “a lush environment for militia activity.”

The tea parties weren’t about protesting all taxes, as so many obtuse critics with more zeal than knowledge like to state; they began as protests against an increase in existing taxes brought on by the stimulus and evolved into protests of irresponsible governing. And hey, thanks SPLC for demonstrating your hateful prejudice by lumping together your fellow Americans in a group where you also name white supremacists and anti-Semites! Again, it’s a tactic played by those who’ve no defense left: make your opponent look ridiculous by any means possible so as to distract from the actual argument. It’s a life raft technique.

This gets better! Oh yes it does! Despite no evidence that threats to the President have increased:

In recent months, men with antigovernment, racist, anti-Semitic or pro-militia views have allegedly committed a series of high-profile murders — including the killings of six law enforcement officers since April.
Most of these recent murders and plots seem to have been at least partially prompted by Obama’s election. One man “very upset” with the election of America’s first black president was building a radioactive “dirty bomb”; another, a Marine, was planning to assassinate Obama, as were two racist skinheads in Tennessee; still another angry at the election and said to be interested in joining a militia killed two sheriff’s deputies in Florida.

Ignore the headline about the dude who killed the recruiters, the murder of the pro-lifer, the assault of Kenneth Gladney, this, this, or this. Ignore that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and even our own president have engaged in juvenile behavior and called dissenters names.

More and more, members of nativist groups like the Minutemen are adopting core militia ideas and fears (see next section of this report).

Hold up. the Minutemen are not “nativist groups.” The left needs to choose how they want to use such a term; they try to use it to their benefit when referencing my indigenous heritage for their own purposes while simultaneously using it as a pejorative against anyone who would dare uphold the Constitution. They can’t have it both ways.

The left wants to maliciously mischaracterize regular Americans who disagree with this administration as loons so as to crush opposition. It’s irresponsible, reckless, and heinous to do to their fellow citizens.

Via