What Americans can do to discourage future McVeighs (Barf)

washingtonpost.com ^ | April 18, 2010 | Kathleen Parker

[Free ThinkerNY]

The upcoming 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people in the nation's worst act of terrorism before Sept. 11, 2001, has prompted renewed concerns about growing anti-government sentiment.

Is the political environment becoming so toxic that we could see another Timothy McVeigh emerge?

No one knows the answer, but fears that anger could escalate into action beyond the ballot box are not misplaced. Ninety-nine percent of angry Americans might be perfectly satisfied to rail at their television sets -- or to show up at a Tea Party rally -- but it takes only one.

The biggest concern for security folks in Washington is the lone operator, the John Hinckley, who tries to take out a president for his fantasy girlfriend. Or some variation thereof.

This is why "Don't retreat. Reload," Sarah Palin's recent imperative to her Tea Party audience, felt so off. Obviously, she wasn't suggesting that people arm themselves, as she has explained several times since. Hunting and military vocabulary are hardly new to politics. We "target" audiences or "set our sights" on policies and politicians all the time. In the world of healthy competition, trophies are victories, not dead people.

But words matter, as we never tire of saying. And these are especially sensitive times, given our first African American president and unavoidable fears about the worst-case scenario. If Jodie Foster could bestir the imagination of Hinckley, a Sarah Palin in the Internet age could move regiments.

[Eagles6]

Whoever said this nitwit was a Conservative?

Hey Kathleen, before OK City (probably carried out complicit with Iraq) was Waco.

Do you remember the lefties that were nabbed before the Republican convention with fire bombs? The violent protests, the riots, attacks on buses and bags of sand dropped off of overpasses?

Excuse me while I go barf.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

...Americans who don't wish to have the fruit of their labor stolen by the government and given to parasites and moochers.

[kcvl]

How about, not use military weapons and tactics against American civilians causing a retaliation? Just a thought . . .

The Clinton administration's use of military force on civilians in Waco where they burned children alive might have something to do with it.

WARNING - sickening photos...

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[reefdiver]

And these are especially sensitive times, What a load of BS, There's a fraud in the White House. Not an American, Not a Black man (half white) Not a capitalist, Not a man accomplished at any thing. Never run anything but his mouth.

[jeffc]

I am old enough to remember the early 70’s and all the college campus “protests”. I do not recall the media being all that upset and worried that it might lead to anarchy or revolt against the government. Nixon was Prez then, so you can guess how the media felt about government then, too. But noe Zero is Prez and the media feel that they must protect him.

[2ndDivisionVet]

FUKP, you traitorous CINO c***!! Go slither back under your rock and take Christopher Buckley and Peggy Noonan with you!!

[c21sac]

This still angers me beyond control. How could this happen and very little be done about it. The media backed Clinton and covered for him. If there is any justice they all should pay for these murders.

[FrankR]

At least Bush had us on track to discourage future 9/11 attacks; now Kathleed is joining up with nutball clinton is dredging up the McVeigh bombing.

Well, I know it's not relevant to anything, but it's all they've got to work with, a right wing fringe maniac in a one-time occurance.

But I notice she obviously don't care if we have future 9/11's, ship attacks, and other acts of muslim terrorism , just so long as Timothy McVeigh STAYS DEAD.

I know Kathleen can't help it, she's trying desparetly to get some...attention...menopause can be a lonely time.

But, I have it on good authority that Tim McVeigh is dead, and except for 9/11 and the democrat/liberal nutcase who used his airplane to get back at the IRS, I don't know of any other federal building attacks in years...Kathleen. Are you taking your hormones regularly, Kathleen...withdrawal can do funny things, I hear.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Stop screwing around with our Constitution and we won’t have any trouble!

[The Antiyuppie]

“The libs should deal with these threats the same way they deal with any other terrorist. Ask themselves what they’re doing to make people mad.”

This is patently illogical, because they think that everyone loves them, except, of course, for those who are mentally ill and or just stupid.

The subject of this thread caused the only serious fight between me and SWMBO in more than a decade - she was unable to describe to me the moral difference between what happened and scaring a man holding a baby off of the ledge of a building.

[magslinger]

But noe Zero is Prez and the media feel that they must protect him.

The MSM don't care about the Pres_ent, Marxist megalomaniacs are a dime a dozen. He can easily be replaced. Their aim is to stifle dissent. They want to vilify the TEA partiers so that people will be afraid to join in for fear of being painted as violent racists.

It isn't going to work. The MSM has tried the same sort of thing against Rush. Unfortunately for them, every time they did, his listener-ship would increase from people who wanted to hear for themselves. They have tried it with FR with similar results. More and more people are realizing that the lying, leftist media cannot be trusted.

[Nasher]

“Don’t retreat. Reload.” = Threatening and seditious.

Being a terrorist who states “I don’t regret setting bombs” = Getting invited to the White House (at least 3 times) to visit zero.

Makes sense to me./s

[backwoods-engineer]

A lady who goes to my church was talking tonight at dinner about how great Parker was, how reasonable she sounds about these scary tea partiers and militias.

Parker is just a useful idiot for the Left, with her citations of non-events (Lewis racism, Barney Frank gay slur, so-called gas line cut that was somebody's gas grill hose) and quotes from the leftist, anti-gun and anti-1st Southern Poverty Law Center.

And her kind of crap is believed by people like this lady at church, who thinks that any disagreement with the president or the Progressive agenda is 'hate'. God help us.

[pankot]

Off your meds again, eh Kathleen?

[Will88]

Hey, Kathleen, you can't do a damned thing to discourage another McVeigh, any more than you can discourage another Oswald, or Manson, or James Earl Ray or Sirhan Shirhan, or other individual haters or nuts that enter our history periodically. It's a silly, immature and self-important indulgence to pretend that, somehow, society as a whole is responsible for the nuts that spring up now and then and affect our history. Nothing can be done to prevent such a tiny number of individuals from being driven to act periodically.

Sometimes, good law enforcement can head off such individuals, but there is nothing that will really prevent one such individual from existing in our society ever decade of so.

[ricmc2175]

Never saw those. Thanks for the memories . . . I think. So why were the perpetrators never charged? Oh, the were Federeales weren’t they?

[kcvl]

It is hard to imagine what the press (& other liberals) would have done if that had been President Bush who had done the very same thing. Just think about it!

[freedomfiter2]

Force the federal government to abide by the US Constitution.

[Darren McCarty]

Parker again shows her unreasonable cattiness with an anti-Palin article, and this is from someone who does not plan on voting for her in 2012 primary.

I'm from Michigan. I've seen a lot worse than that, mostly from the dems too. Detroit City Council meetings would laugh at this crap.

[MIlle]

Here’s the email I sent Ms. Parker this a.m. after her appearance on Meet the Press (or was it Chris Matthews?):

Well, Kathleen, there you were again this morning -— all over the Sunday morning shows giving aid and comfort to the Left. You seriously think the danger of violence is coming from the right wing??? Have you not read about the beating of the couple who attended last weekend’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference? Have you not seen the video of last year’s townhall meetings where SEIU members routinely shoved and intimidated attendees who voiced opposition to Democrat members of Congress? Did you not see the photos and video of the Black Panthers holding clubs outside polling places on Election Day, 2008? Do you not recall the 2004 presidential campaign when union thugs, in an organized effort, busted their way into to several county Republican/Bush headquarters across the nation, including the Orlando office where they left an official of the Republican Party of Florida with a broken wrist?

Please cite for me all the various and sundry examples of Republican/right-wing acts of violence against Democrats. I’ll wait patiently as the crickets chirp.

It was appropriate that you looked embarrassed this morning when Chris Matthews handed you the bouquet to celebrate your Pulitzer Prize win. We all know how that happened and today you just doubled down on that winning formula of making baseless assumptions about the Right and ignoring the multitude of transgressions by the Left.

Excellent job, “Journalist.”