Right Wing Extremism America's Biggest Threat?

Image from source, RawStory

Ever since I was a little kid, whenever I heard anybody mention the concept of a black president, somebody would bring up the spectre of assassination. During the 2008 primaries, it was a topic that was only discussed in hushed tones for the most part. But I thought it. Didn't you?

Especially in the waning days of the John McCain/Sarah Palin campaign, when the "true believers" were being worked into a lather. Palin was one of the biggest stokers of the vague outrage. And who can forget the wild-haired woman who called Barack Obama an "Arab," as though that was the worst thing she could think of?

Since the election and inauguration, there have been surprisingly few outright racist outbursts in the news. There was the "edgy" New Yorker cover. There was the monkey cartoon. In both cases, there was at least a flimsy excuse to explain why they weren't racist. But if you want to see a combined rage/racism focusing on Obama (and oddly, his wife), you need go no further than FreeRepublic.com. Over there, the veil on the racism is particularly sheer, and riddled with moth holes.

It is the FReepers that best typify the group that Palin was speaking to. In fact, she is practically deified there. They are also the ones most concerned with the gravest Constitutional threat our nation has ever faced: the legitimacy of Obama's birth certificate. This issue--crazy as it is--in combination with other issues real and imagined, makes the excerpted story below very easy to believe. I think we might get a bit of a preview with all the "tea party" tea bagging tomorrow.

[Excerpt]

Conservatives outraged at DHS assessment warning of violent 'rightwing extremism'

An April 7 report by the Department of Homeland Security is causing waves of indignation among conservatives for labeling "rightwing extremism" the "most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States. . ."

Read more at: RawStory