On Wednesday, the CBS Early Show once again feared a rise in right-wing extremism as co-host Russ Mitchell cited a report from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center: "A report out this morning says anti-government and white racist militias are regrouping around the country. The Southern Poverty Law Center says it is in part a reaction to the election of America’s first black president." [Audio/video (1:21): Mp3 | WMV]
The CBS morning show touted a similar report from the liberal group on April 15, with co-host Harry Smith declaring: "The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report found 926 active hate groups in the country. That’s up more than 50% from just 2000...And they say part of it is because of the election of President Obama." Smith went on to describe how that report coincided with a controversial Homeland Security report that was released at the same time.
The Wednesday story was reported by correspondent Bob Orr, who cited anecdotal evidence:
In April, three Pittsburgh police officers were shot and killed by an avowed white supremacist. Almost two months later, an anti-abortion rights protestor gunned down a doctor in Wichita. And just two weeks after that, a lifelong neo-Nazi shot and killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. While the three events are not directly connected, a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center argues they are evidence that the threat from militias and extremists is on the rise.
Orr further detailed the "right-wing" threat: "The report says 50 new militia training groups have popped up in just the last two years. Gun and ammunition sales are skyrocketing. And right-wing extremists, historically motivated by a distrust of government, are now especially angry about the election of America’s first black president."
At the end of the 8:02AM ET news brief, Orr concluded: "The report concludes the threat is not as grave as it was in the ‘90s, which brought the fiery standoff at Waco and the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. But as one law enforcement source puts it, ‘a dangerous mix is brewing and all that’s missing is a spark.’"
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Time for the racist card. The last refuge of these scoundrels.
August 12, 2009 - 10:48 ET by jazbo"Democrats; Breeding voters like farm animals since 1962"
Start calling them "racers"
August 12, 2009 - 10:56 ET by mattmStart calling them "racers"
They refer to people who question BHO's birthplace (which will remain in doubt until he produces his real birth certificate) as "birthers" in order to call their credibility into question.
Yet, the claim that people oppose BHO because of race is FAR LESS CREDIBLE than the birth certificate thing. So we should start referring to them as "racers."
I'm not a 'birther'.
August 12, 2009 - 11:56 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonI AM a CONSTITUTIONALIST, specifically an Article II, Section I, believer.
The Constitution was written to PROTECT me from people like him.
http://gjresult.com
Unfortunately Fox News calls it...
August 12, 2009 - 10:52 ET by Prester John....an "independent" report, which it certainly is not since it is from the SPLC, and besides, what the heck is an "independent" report?
Independent Report Claims Militia Groups on the Rise
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539021,00.html?test=latestnews
MSM coverage
August 12, 2009 - 11:03 ET by gopsteveMSM coverage priorities:
"Rightwing extremists": they are a serious threat to the country
Terrorists: Who?
SPLC=ACORN=Your tax dollars
August 12, 2009 - 11:12 ET by buddycSPLC=ACORN=Your tax dollars at work.
An "independent report" is
August 12, 2009 - 12:51 ET by celatorAn "independent report" is defined by the radical collectivists as a report that you are mandated to believe because they wrote it.
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
Hmmm... Fox News said that?
August 12, 2009 - 17:51 ET by retroconSomeone needs to remind them as to WHY they are the top cable news network! If they start "conveniently leaving out details" like the afiliation of this group, we're left with nothing we can identify as "hard news." And they will be left with no one to buy the stuff they advertise... like MSNBCNN
Foxnews.com....
August 12, 2009 - 19:43 ET by Prester John...had it as the title of it's report. I haven't heard anyone on cable say it.
Prester
August 12, 2009 - 17:57 ET by well99If you thought that was special.Look who Homeland Security got their info for Right Wing extremist reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Ne3po4ceQ&feature=channel_page
IFFF something happens to
August 12, 2009 - 11:08 ET by buddycHarry Smith again fans the flames of hate as he has for 30 years. What a pathetic little man.
IFFF something happens to Obama, and I pray it does not, my belief now is that it will be at the hands of radical liberals who want to create a political wave like the one we experienced when JFK was killed. Radical liberals are probably at the point where they see that the messiah is a turkey, he has peaked, it ain't going to get any better and they will try to create a martyr.
People seem to forget that contrary to hollywood lies, it was a communist that killed JFK, not the right wing.
Obama
August 12, 2009 - 11:09 ET by adamsmithThe first "black" President has nothing to do with it for anyone. It's the first Marxist-Socialist President that is problematic. Like the girl at Arlen Spector's rally the other day, "I don't want my country turned into Russia", or France for that matter either....We want a Constitutional Country, screw Marxism..............
Has he ever renounced his Indonesian citizenship?
August 12, 2009 - 15:03 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonJust one of the questions he hides from and is spending millions on legal fees to keep the American People from finding out.
He has never presented any proof that he is in this country legally.
He applied for student aid as an Indonesian citizen.
http://gjresult.com
I'm too "extreme" for CBS here.
August 12, 2009 - 11:07 ET by DJEddleThis "right-wing extremist" is about to get a little too extreme for CBS:
Oh, no! I'm leaving a link to a radical website with a dangerous, extremist message:
Barack Hussein Obama: Presidential Usurper
Look everybody! It's a "birther"!
Except this one isn't arguing that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii. My understanding isn't based on the inept media or intellectually-deprived "scholars." Truth and reason are on my side...and they say that Obama never was a natural-born citizen, and never can be.
In other words: Obama is an absolute fraud and a threat to this country.
How's that for "right-wing extremism," CBS?
Rational Liberty: Where Reason and Government Collide - The best website ever!
Gee, only 50 citizen militia groups?
August 12, 2009 - 11:15 ET by SickofLibsI'll be anxiously awaiting for CBS's (and the others nets) hardhitting exposé on the THIRTY FIVE ISLAMIST/TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS right here in our own back yard.
http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=185279
August 12, 2009 - 11:29 ET by jessieHNone of this is about obama as a person. It's about the Constitution!
Rise of the right wing...
August 12, 2009 - 11:38 ET by AgentAmerican...and there's nothing they can do to stop it, without using deadly force...and should they go to that extreme, it will be the end of the left as we despise them.
America will be saved.
2010: A GOP Hill
Well that doesn't sound
August 12, 2009 - 12:38 ET by balboaWell that doesn't sound ominous at all.
Big surprise
August 12, 2009 - 11:51 ET by BKeyserAn unmitigated partisan democratic group once led by Julian Bond says that "hate groups" in this country are the result of the election of a black president...imagine that. Where'd they do their research, DKos?
I wonder what
August 12, 2009 - 12:04 ET by EdhenryI wonder what "Os" poll numbers (gap between strongly approve and disapprove) would be if the weak, co-dependent, fossil media was not so sycophantic to him.
Would the polls then render him powerless? Of course, if the media was intelligent and fair, he wouldn't have been elected.
Ed
August 12, 2009 - 12:31 ET by BKeyserMy guess is he'd hang onto 30% positive numbers regardless of the media position- there's just that many hardcore progressives in this country. He'd also maintain a solid 90% of the black vote. But as you suggest, you can bet the disparity would be large, and the "stongly opposed" numbers would strengthen if the media would stop covering for him. I think he'll continue to stumble right to the 2010 election, at which time he will be rendered virutally powerless. That's the kind of hope he instills in me, anyway.
The logic train has left the station...
August 12, 2009 - 12:19 ET by lsudolemiteHow is it that a supposedly large rise in the number of hate groups since 2000, over 8 years ago, is attributed primarily to a president who has only been in office for 6 months? If anything, that indicates a big jump in the number of rabid Bush-hating whackos.
Fortunately
August 12, 2009 - 12:21 ET by JustAlThere is no such thing as a "rise of left wing extremists," I just did a google, something interesting for folks to try.
Press release reporting
August 12, 2009 - 12:13 ET by KC MulvilleIt doesn't matter where you are on the political spectrum. Think of how the media handled this.
OK, standard practice, right? Everyone does this all the time. Even NewsBusters or MRC shows up on some news programs, usually Fox. The news anchor says, "A new report on [such-and-such] from the Media Research Center ..."
What's interesting is that if the news organization simply passes along the fact that the organization releases a report, that alone is an editorial decision. And so, when many organizations issue position papers everyday, selecting any one of them to broadcast is an implicit endorsement of what the organization says.
So CBS broadcast a report that argues that just because the president is black, it stirs up the crazies against him. So why release the report now? Because it allows CBS to link the crazies to any all opposition to Obama. They're discrediting any opposition to Obama by highlighting the psychotic opposition.
And CBS endorses that.
NewsBusters page links are broken
August 12, 2009 - 12:33 ET by chazskiFYI - When I try to access back pages of NewsBusters such as page 2 at URL, newsbusters.org/node?page=1, I get a "link is broken" message. Also, your Contact page returns the message that there is a limit of 3 per hour even though none have been sent.
Please fix the system asap. Thanks
Waco?
August 12, 2009 - 12:47 ET by trickle_down"...which brought the fiery standoff at Waco"
The Branch Dividians were a right wing group?
Southern Poverty Law Center
August 12, 2009 - 12:55 ET by ricklailFor some reason I don't believe anything that comes from the SPLC. Their leadership has been known to make up facts to suit their reports. By the way militias are the same as whie supremists only in the minds of the SPLC.
Semper suprene nitens
North Carolina now has the worst government money can buy.
A new entry for the
August 12, 2009 - 13:11 ET by MikeBA new entry for the Liberalspeak dictionary:
Hate group - (n) any group of two or more people who oppose the marxist policies of our Dear Leader, President for Life, Barak Obama (pbuh).
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
SPLC
August 12, 2009 - 16:08 ET by justbob223The Southern Poverty Law Center is a left-wing organization that is full of crap.
...but as ONE law
August 12, 2009 - 16:21 ET by bigtimer...but as ONE law enforcement source puts it, ‘a dangerous mix is brewing and all that’s missing is a spark.’"
Wow...ONE law enforcement source says...well golly gee that seals if for me...how about you?
SPLC is a group in much need of attention, purpose and money once again...I despise all of them, have for years now.
Obama's a Community Agitator, a walking, talking destroyer. ~ Rush Limbaugh
Beck is talking about a
August 12, 2009 - 16:32 ET by bigtimerBeck is talking about a report the lovely leftist at SPLC put out on HIM/FOX!
I'll have to look for a link in a bit..it is so danged typical of them and their tactics...
These people, all of the left are trying to silence the right one way or the other, just like them banning radio talk show hosts at CNN...they aren't waiting for the Fairness Doctrine, they think they are the Fairness Doctrine.
Well newsflash enemy within of all venues...we won't intimidated and we won't be silenced!
Obama's a Community Agitator, a walking, talking destroyer. ~ Rush Limbaugh
angry about the election of
August 12, 2009 - 23:05 ET by RR GOPangry about the election of America’s first black president.
I thought Bill Clinton was our first black president...wish they'd make up their minds.
I don't really trust these militia types. I'm not down with the ultra-Conservative gun-nut thing. I think they're potentially just as bad as the Democratic Underground types...extremists.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
He is right about one thing. He should fear a rise...
August 13, 2009 - 08:44 ET by jawebster1in "right-wing extremists", as he calls people like me, because we do not watch CBS News, or ABC, or NBC, or CNN or MSNBC. For the record, I don't watch John Stewart either. Jim Webster