Wingnut theatrics are going too far; shootings in Pittsburgh

What's intriguing about this whole mess being ginned up is that the RightWingnuts are accusing the left of trying to stamp on their First Amendment rights by calling out their craziness.

When Dick (heh) Morris advocates killing federal agents on Fox last week, they've officially gone too far.

Those crazies in Montana who say, ‘we’re going to kill ATF agents because the UN’s going to take over’ -- well, they’re beginning to have a case. - Dick Morris

It's not trampling anyone's right to speak to point out that people like Morris and Hannity and Beck are indeed inflammatory and dangerous. and it's not trampling to point out that Richard Poplawski, the 23-year-old who killed three police officers yesterday in Pittsburgh, apparently acted out of fear that his guns were going to be taken away.

It's not trampling to say that, while Beck and Hannity didn't cause Poplawski to ask, their dangerous rhetoric helps to provide a climate conductive to these actions.

Quoth Cesca:

The far-right "they're coming for my guns" poseur militaristic set aren't lone nuts. They're not impressionable kids acting out. They are, in fact, believers in an ideology. An ideology that ordains guns as the only means by which to solve problems or to level the socio-political playing field. It's a kind of religion -- with the obvious players serving as ministers and purveyors of the ideological dogma.

What we're hearing on talk radio and on FOX News is gun porn, far beyond the realms of responsible political chatter. And it's up to Beck and the others to take a hard look at the content of their sermons and to understand that there are too many adults with firearms who are just one segment or NRA interview away from taking the Beck's theatrics too seriously.

As Neiwert at Crooks and Liars points out:

The point is not to silence the people saying these things, but to point out how grotesquely irresponsible they are -- in the hopes that they will cease doing so, and start acting responsibly. It's their choice to use irresponsible rhetoric. It's not just our choice but our duty, as responsible citizens, to stand up and speak out about it.

Then there's just garden-variety crazy with some Classic Hannity, by Steve Benen @ Washington Monthly

Late last week, President Obama spoke in Strasbourg, France, and talked about his commitment to renewing our partnership with America's European allies. He conceded that "we've allowed our alliance to drift" in recent years, and went out of his way to be even-handed about it. The president, for example, acknowledged that the U.S. has, at times, "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" of the European Union.

But in the next breath, Obama added that Europe has "an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious," adding that too often, Europeans have been too quick to blame America, while neglecting to recognize "the good that America so often does in the world."

Urging both sides of the Atlantic to begin anew, Obama said, "[T]hese attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth.... So I've come to Europe this week to renew our partnership, one in which America listens and learns from our friends and allies, but where our friends and allies bear their share of the burden. Together, we must forge common solutions to our common problems."

On Fox News, Sean Hannity aired the first part -- the part in which the president conceded recent U.S. shortcomings -- and pretended the other parts didn't happen. (In an understatement, Howard Kurtz called Hannity's creative editing "not quite fair.") The ensuing tirade was Hannity at his most Hannity-tastic.

"America is arrogant. That's what Mr. Obama said today, doing his best Dixie Chicks impression.... [T]he liberal tradition of blame America first, well, that's still alive. But should we really be surprised from a man who sat in Reverend Wright's church, from a man who launched his political career in the home of a man who bombed the Pentagon and is unrepentant. Mrs. Obama may not be proud of her country, but I bet she's proud of her husband tonight. [...]