Obama, ADL, SPLC, Phil Gordon, Catherine Herridge, Shep Smith, Joan Walsh, Chris Matthews, others try to exploit shooting at Holocaust Museum

Here are just some of those trying to use yesterday's shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC to score political points:

* Barack Obama says: "This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms". That sounds good, until one remembers things like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, "bitter cling", his campaign's constant attempts to race-bait, his smears of Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh, and how he'd deal with "hate" (see #14).

* Josh Gerstein of the Politico in "Attacks validate DHS report, some say" (link). He quotes the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok: "I think this latest round of killing once again shows how ridiculous the criticism from the right of the Department of Homeland Security report was. That whole brouhaha was absurd... Rush Limbaugh and John Boehner can go on until the end of time about how [the report] was an attack on conservatives, but in reality it was a perfectly sober assessment of what was going on out there." That report was even criticized by Bennie Thompson. Gerstein also quotes the Anti Defamation League's Deborah Lauter: "We felt the DHS report was pretty right on... Clearly the election of Obama, the current financial crisis, and the discussion of immigration reform - those things have certainly fueled the right wing extremist movement in this country….There are clear indications that the rhetoric is manifesting. We hope it's not the tip of the iceberg.”

* Catherine Herridge and Shepard Smith on Fox News: link.

* Joan Walsh of Salon.com and Chris Matthews: link.

* Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon sinks even further, engaging in McCarthyite tactics against Sheriff Joe Arpaio: link.

UPDATE: A list of others who've tried to exploit this tragedy is in "Holocaust Museum Shooter: Christian-Hating Socialist" (link). It includes this:

A review of his lengthy associations reveals Von Brunn hardly fits the stereotype of a Religious Right, GOP precinct captain. He denounced the Christian faith as a dastardly Jewish conspiracy, a “HOAX” invented by the Apostle Paul to “DESTROY ROMAN CULTURE” from within by undermining its pagan virility. (All screaming capitalization and grammatical errors in this piece appear in the original.) Like others on the racist fringe, the shooter proclaimed clearly: "SOCIALISM, represents the future of the West."

Extensive quotes are provided to show those aren't being taken out of context.

Thu, 06/11/2009 - 10:10 · · Importance: 4