Liberal blogs have been tying Richard Poplawski's shooting rampage to the escalating hyperbole of right-wing critiques of Obama. The Anti-Defamation League reports that Polawski, in addition to frequenting white-supremacist communities online, was a fan of Glenn Beck and believed that Obama was "ramping up the police state." One right-wing blogger actually threatened TBogg after he put up a post suggesting a connection between recent conservative hyperbole about Obama and violence. He did so without irony.
First of all, I'm really skeptical of efforts to link the violent acts of people who are obviously mentally ill to political hyperbole. That said, there is a distinct similarity between the rhetoric of Michele Bachmann claiming that people are going to be "put into re-education camps," Erick Erickson ginning up lynch mobs to go after politicians for outlawing phosphates, and Dick Morris saying that extremist right-wing militias are "beginning to have a case," and the beliefs Poplawski held about what the Obama administration was doing.
The right isn't "responsible" for Poplawski. Poplawski is responsible for Poplawski. But if anything his rampage should provoke some thought on the right as to what exactly it is they're saying. The wide acceptance of such unhinged rhetoric on the right makes them sound increasingly like the kind of "fringe people" who used to attend John McCain and Sarah Palin's campaign rallies, individuals McCain would have us believe are the exception.
Maybe they are. But the right should be taking a good hard look at itself and asking, is this who we want to sound like? Are these the kinds of people we want identifying with us? Because at the moment, people inclined toward Poplawski's beliefs think you're on their side.
-- A. Serwer
