It seems that whenever you hear about a "rightwing" hate crime nowadays, it turns out the the perpetrator turns out to be a leftwinger...much to the disappointment of liberals who continue to maintain the fiction about a violent Tea Party movement. And the latest case of a violent "rightwinger" who turns out to really be a leftwinger comes from my own county of Broward here in South Florida. With my condolences to the left who have been "robbed" of yet another example of supposed Tea Party "hate crime," here is a report on the arrest of the suspect by Bob Norman of the Broward Palm Beach New Times:
The woman charged by the FBI with making a threat that led to the lockdown of more than 300 Broward County schools after hearing the words of right-wing talker Joyce Kaufman isn't a member of the Tea Party -- she's a member of the Green Party.
Oops! And since Bob Norman is hardly a conservative (note his "right-wing talker" description of Joyce Kaufman whom you can see in the photo) he isn't exactly trying to cover up for the Tea Party. Despite Norman's political leanings, he is honest enough to present the "brutal" truth for those quick to accuse some "crazed conservative" of the crime:
Martinez feigned agreement with the fiery arch-conservative rhetoric of Kaufman and Sarah Palin, but she's she's officially on the other side of the ledger. According to the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Office, Martinez is a member of the Green Party, a progressive left-wing group focused on environmental issues.
The FBI says that after Martinez saw a tape on MSNBC of Kaufman at a July 3 Tea Party rally, she fired off a threatening email that led to a lockdown at all Broward County schools. During the speech, Kaufman made her now-infamous statement that "if ballots don't work, bullets will."
...The threatening email was sent to Kaufman at the radio station, and Kaufman, a former liberal, has hinted repeatedly that the email was a hoax from a left-wing activist, not a declaration of war from one of her Tea Party adherents.
And guess what? Joyce Kaufman was 100% correct. However, it doesn't take much in the way of prophetic abilities to have predicted who the suspected perpetrator would turn out to be. Your humble correspondent had the same suspicion the instant he heard about the threat on the news. So when you hear about a probable "rightwing" terror threat, the type of person you should immediately suspect would be from the other end of the political spectrum since that is the trend the past few years. A big clue was the dopey e-mail the suspect sent to Kaufman which pretty much points an arrow at the not-so-hidden leftwing sympathies of the author:
"dear ms. kaufman, i was so thrilled to see you speak in person for congressman elect west. i was especially exited to hear you encourage us to exercise our second amendment gun rights. i felt your plan to organize people with guns in the hills of Kentucky and else where was a great idea. i know that you know one election is not enough to take our country back from the illegal aliens, jews, muslims, and illuminati who are running the show. i am so glad you support people who think like me. I'm planning something big around a government building here in Broward County, maybe a post office, maybe even a school, i'm going to walk in and teach all the government hacks working there what the 2nd amendment is all about. Can I count on your help?"
Another line in the email referred to Sarah Palin: "what does Sarah say, don't retreat, reload! Let's make headlines girl!"
So what was the motivation behind the threat? Bob Norman theorizes on her pathetic reasoning:
Martinez's email stunt was just that -- a stunt, a very bad and dangerous attempt at media-driven performance art likely meant to show what she believed was the natural consequence of Kaufman's own dangerous words. Whether authorities in Broward overreacted or not, she went too far, and now she'll be prosecuted by the federal government.
Of course, the usual suspects eagerly bought into the notion of a "crazed teabagger" behind the threat. Some sample comments from the Daily Kos when this story first broke:
Apparently, the terrorist threatening to shoot children at school's and government buildings had been inspired to do so after seeing Kaufman in a tape played on Rachel Maddow's Show a few night's ago.
...As we all know, this type of thing is nothing new, and is happening with increasing frequency, spurred on by the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of the world. And what we know is equally true is that not a single Republican will call these insane terrorists and their sponsors onto the carpet for it.
Even more laughable than the completely incorrect call by the Daily Kos is the Democratic Underground continuing to stubbornly stick to the "crazed teabagger" fiction even AFTER the story about the arrest of the suspect broke. Some divorced from reality comments from the DUers starting with the very title of their thread:
Fla. Tea Bagger Woman Accused In School Threats Arrested
More TeaTerror...Let's List the violent attacks by the Right Wingers
A much longer list would be a list of violent attacks by "Right Wingers" who actually turn out to be Left Wingers.