One could also READ a detailed discussion just posted on a fairly conservative site:
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/8699/comment-page-1#comment-453950
That site you linked to is NOT a “fairly conservative” site if it accuses the “right wing” for the Oklahoma City bombing.
That site is not a fairly conservative site. It is simply another person’s opinion page. A person who today posted a quite vicious attack on “the GOP and Conservatives”, because apparently a few buffoons from the far right decided to personally target his wife.
We know these types of “conservatives” — those who jump to conclusions, speak without thinking, and seek to stifle any discussion. They don’t represent the core of conservatism, but they are the most loud, and often get the most press. And they are good at intimidating more thoughtful, intelligent conservatives from bringing a rational voice to the discussion.
AJ Strata is WRONG about this report, but right about the reaction to the report. There are major problems with this report, not the least of which is that it is false. But we won’t make the story about the problems with the report, because the loud-mouths have already made their overblown proclamations.
And in fact, they have done more than the report ever could have to tie in the average American’s mind the tea parties to the “rightwing extremists”.
AJ does correctly note the tendency of the loud-mouth conservatives to trash good people for no good reason. You see it here at FR all the time. If someone has an alternative point of view, rather than discussing why that alternative is not conservatives, they simply resort to name-calling and personal attacks.
We need to discuss issues, not resort to trashing DHS employees. Maybe there are bad DHS employees, if so let’s get their names and what they specifically have done to be labeled “bad”. But instead we get vague, broad-brush attacks on hard-working Americans whose job it is to defend us, most of whom had nothing to do with this report.
This report could have easily been made a laughing-stock. Instead a few polarizing figures may well use it to strike another blow against the conservative movement. I have no doubt our opposition on the left will do their best, with the help of the media, to make this happen. It is likely that those few people were involved in this report’s re-write and leak on this day intended to provoke precisely this type of reaction.
A reasoned response would easily show the country how amateurish this particular report was prepared. Personally, I’m sick and tired of how people are mislabeled “rightwing” — McVeigh was no conservative, and the pro-life movement is not constrained to those with otherwise right-leaning political viewpoints.
But the good points to be made against this report will be much harder to make because of the initial reactions to this report. We need some more savvy media people to lead the conservative cause, those who are in the front are tearing apart the conservative movement AND any chance we have to win over the hearts and minds of the majority in this country.