Some liberals are using the death of a Census Bureau worker in rural Kentucky to bolster their wild claims that criticism of Obama is sparking political violence. But evidence is lacking, speculation is rampant, and left wing accusers are coming up short in their efforts to portray opposition to the president as somehow dangerous.
"This is the kind of violent event that emerges from a culture of paranoia and unsubstantiated attacks," writes Allison Kilkenny, a Huffington Post contributor and liberal radio host who, according to her bio, "makes sh***y world news funny." She was referring to the probable murder (authorities have not officially ruled it a homicide) of Bill Sparkman, whose body was found with the word 'Fed' carved into his chest.
'Fed', by Kilkenny's account, "has taken on a derogatory meaning in right-wing circles where fear and paranoia reign supreme... Such paranoia and anger isn't contained in the woods of Kentucky. The problem is systematic."
So in her desperate attempt to blame conservatives for Sparkman's death Kilkenny draws from the three-letter message on the victim's chest that the killer was a conservative, that he or she was trying to send Obama a message, and that he or she was driven to violence by vitriolic hate-sermons on conservative talk radio. "Violent rhetoric begets violence, and no one should act surprised when a Sparkman-like killing happens again," she states.
Ever since the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of the violent threat posed by "right-wing extremists," many liberals have seized any opportunity to place the blame for violent acts on the conservative movement.
DHS's claim that "the economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment" has been echoed by statements from a number of prominent liberals, including Nancy Pelosi, who likened the current political climate to 1970s San Francisco, which saw much politically-motivated violence.
Pelosi neglected to mention that most of the violence in San Francisco at the time was perpetrated by leftists. This omission was but the latest symptom of a liberal amnesia. The left has tried to tie criticism of the president to random acts of violence supposedly perpetrated by 'right-wing extremists'. But liberals had no such doom and gloom predictions or indictments of their own when someone fired multiple gunshots through the window of a Bush/Cheney campaign office or ransacked the campaign's Orlando headquarters in 2004.
This is the same amnesia that causes liberals to deride Tea Party protests because a couple offensive signs were present, yet remain silent about the signs at anti-war rallies during the Bush years comparing the president to the devil and to Hitler, calling for the destruction of Israel, and advocating the imposition of communism.
It is the same amnesia that brought liberals to characterize August town hall protests as 'un-American' 'astroturf', and Joe Wilson as a racist, while forgetting their own support for the disruptive and vulgar Code Pink anti-war protesters.
Mike Lux, a liberal political consultant and Huffington Post contributor, offered some advice that leftist accusers of political violence might do well to take to heart: "I think it is extremely important that progressives be very slow and very careful in calling conservatives fascist or supporters of political violence unless they actually show themselves to be that." Of course Kilkenny does not show any of her right wing villains (Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Andrew Napolitano, etc.) to be supporters of political violence, because they aren't.
Kilkenny certainly draws a lot from an event about which she can only speculate. Suicide has not been ruled out (though it would, as she notes, be a bizarre suicide). It was most likely a murder, but no one has been officially (or unofficially) accused of the crime, so the only indicator of motive is the cryptic inscription on the victim's chest--not exactly definitive evidence of 'political terrorism' or 'right-wing extremism.'
