Free Republic

Is Gov. Deval Patrick serious? He doesn't know the motivation of the terrorists? On Sunday he went on "Face the Nation," and host Bob Schieffer asked him if he had "any clearer idea" of why the "two young men" did it. "Not yet, Bob," Deval began, more than 48 hours after the shootout. "Uh, and it's hard, it's hard for me and for many to imagine what could motivate, uh, people to, uh, harm, uh, innocent men, women and children, uh, in the way that, uh, these two fellows did." Two fellows indeed. He'd rather tell a whopper on national...

Several weeks in rural Ireland may have softened the emotional carapace required for any extended immersion in American politics these days, but it's hard not to be taken aback by the televised images of people opposed to healthcare reform carrying guns to rallies at which President Obama is speaking. (snip) Something has shifted since Obama's election. Along with the now mindlessly normative red state/blue state polarization and autonomic politicization of even the most trivial incident, there's a kind of hysteria that seems to be creeping in from the fringes -- a new tenor to our disagreements and a startling attenuation...