At a recent town hall meeting at Simpson University in Redding, California a man identified himself to Representative Wally Herger as a proud right-wing terrorist. Congressman Herger responded “God bless you,” then to the crowd, “there is a great American.”
(UPDATE – I added the following video of the exchange between the right-wing “terrorist” and Rep. Herger two days after writing the post.)
Herger’s “great America” is on the rise, here are just a few “great Americans” we’ve seen over the last year.
Birther James von Brunn, who hates Jews and illegal immigrants, shot a black security guard to death at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009.
Ant-abortion activist Scott Roeder assassinated Dr. George Tiller on May 31, 2009. Roeder is not the first right-wing terrorist to target abortion providers. There have been a half-dozen such murders over the last decade and a half.
Richard Andrew Poplawski killed three police officers and seriously injured two more in Pittsburgh on April 4, 2009. “Poplawski feared President Obama was going to take away his rights.”
Shawna Forde decided to carry out her anti-immigrant vigilantism by killing the Flores family on May 30, 2009 in Arivaca, Arizona.
Dennis Mahon and his twin brother Daniel were arrested in June for the 2004 letter bombing of Don Logan, a black man who headed the diversity office in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dennis Mahon was once the head of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and has had close ties with other American Neo-Nazi groups. The White Knights are considered to be the most violent and militant KKK group.
Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman were arrested October 22, 2008 for plotting to assassinate Barack Obama. While it may be hard to take their Internet chatter seriously, both men were deeply immersed in white supremacist networks and philosophy. They might be more accurately described as right-wing terrorist wannabes.
Another wannabe right-wing terrorist was James G. Cummings who was collecting the ingredients for a dirty bomb when he was shot dead by his wife in December of 2008. Information about his case was leaked by WikiLeaks in February, 2009.
“[F]our 1-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon were found in the home.
“Also found was literature on how to build ‘dirty bombs’ and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials. The FBI report also stated there was evidence linking James Cummings to white supremacist groups. This would seem to confirm observations by local tradesmen who worked at the Cummings home that he was an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler and had a collection of Nazi memorabilia around the house, including a prominently displayed flag with swastika. Cummings claimed to have pieces of Hitler’s personal silverware and place settings, painter Mike Robbins said a few days after the shooting.”
(By the way, how many neo-Nazis do you think voted for Obama, grateful that they had finally found a candidate that would usher in their long-awaited fourth Reich?)
Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan D. Johnson are three more white supremacists and wannabe right-wing terrorists. They were arrested in October last year for their plot to assassinate candidate Obama.
Six of Herger’s “great Americans” were arrested in June of 2008. Among them was white supremacist Bradley T. Kahle.
“Six people with ties to the militia movement are arrested in rural north-central Pennsylvania after task force officers find stockpiles of assault rifles, improvised explosives and homemade weapons, at least some of them apparently intended for terrorist attacks on U.S. officials. Agents find 16 homemade bombs during a search of the residence of Pennsylvania Citizens Militia recruiter Bradley T. Kahle, who allegedly tells authorities that he intended to shoot black people from a rooftop in Pittsburgh and also predicts civil war if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton are elected president.”
Noted right-wing terrorist Eric Robert Rudolph continues to inspire “great Americans” by publishing letters while incarcerated.
Keith Luke killed two people in Massachusetts the day after Obama’s inauguration. Luke decided carving a swastika into his forehead would be a good look for his court appearance.
Apologists will say that it’s “obvious” that the town hall speaker was referring to the Department of Homeland Security report released in April of this year. The report said was that there was a possibility some right-wing terrorist might do something like, oh say, walk into the Holocaust museum and open fire.
The report was misrepresented and promoted among some right-wing talkshows, blogs, etc. as politically motivated effort to intimidate opponents of Barack Obama. Napolitano apologized for any confusion the language might have caused, and the spike in right-wing violence over the last year has borne out the accuracy of its concerns. The fact that the report was initiated under the Bush administration, and that an analysis of left-wing terrorism had been released several months earlier, also belies that this was not a political document meant to intimidate conservatives.
Regardless of what the man in the audience might have been referring to, it is irresponsible, in a time when we are fighting a Global War on Terror, for any politician, especially a member of Congress, to refer to a self-proclaimed terrorist as a “great American,” no matter the context.
Apologists might counter with self-avowed domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, and his acquaintance with Barack Obama, but it’s disingenuous to not see the difference between Ayers and the right-wing terrorism implicitly endorsed by congressman Herger. Ayers didn’t kill anyone and later expressed remorse. More to the point, Obama disavowed Ayers terroristic actions. He did not call him a “great American,” but rather described his acts as “detestable.”
That said, there is a kernel of legitimate argument from the they-say-it-too crowd. I’m not asserting that Herger is guilty by association, nor do I mean to say that the man in the audience should not have said what he said. That the man in the audience identified himself as a right-wing terrorist is not my concern. Thumbing one’s nose at the government and making implicit threats has a long and healthy history in the United States. It’s a way to test the limits of liberty.
The congressman, however, bears the responsibility of leadership. He (or she as the case may be) must acknowledge that words have meaning and leaders, like political representatives, are looked to for guidance in times of confusion. While it is the man’s right to say whatever he wants, it is the congressman’s responsibility to endorse or condemn the values that honestly reflect his worldview.
If Trent Lott can draw the ire of his party because of his implicit endorsement of the racist policies of the Dixiecrats, then what does Wally Herger deserve for explicitly endorsing right-wing terrorism? Or if George Allen can be politically damaged by uttering the word “macaca,” then will there be blowback for giving a wink and a thumbs up to American terrorists who are adopting an increasingly belligerent posture?
Obama faces thirty death threats a day (on average). Herger’s tacit support for right-wing terrorism helps create a climate where such anti-American attitudes are tolerated instead of condemned. One of the stunning ironies of our times is that there are real neo-Nazis who really want to kill the president and destroy the United States. These frivolous and inaccurate accusations of Nazism directed at a moderate Democrat poison the well of public discourse. It’s OK for for citizens to say these things, but irresponsible for politicians to encourage this discussion.
Here are some of the people killed by right-wing terrorists in this country over the last year. I wonder what Herger has to say to the families of these slain Americans. If right-wing terrorists are “great Americans,” then what does that make …
Officer Paul Sciullo III
Officer Stephen Mayhle
Officer Eric Kelly
Officer Burt Lopez
Officer Warren York
Brisenia Flores
Stephen Johns
Dr. George Tiller
Shortly after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, President Clinton had this to say -
“In this country we cherish and guard the right of free speech. We know we love it when we put up with people saying things we absolutely deplore. And we must always be willing to defend their right to say things we deplore to the ultimate degree. But we hear so many loud and angry voices in America today whose sole goal seems to be to try to keep some people as paranoid as possible and the rest of us all torn up and upset with each other. They spread hate. They leave the impression that, by their very words, that violence is acceptable. You ought to see — I’m sure you are now seeing the reports of some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today.
“Well, people like that who want to share our freedoms must know that their bitter words can have consequences, and that freedom has endured in this country for more than two centuries because it was coupled with an enormous sense of responsibility on the part of the American people.
“If we are to have freedom to speak, freedom to assemble, and, yes, the freedom to bear arms, we must have responsibility as well. And to those of us who do not agree with the purveyors of hatred and division, with the promoters of paranoia, I remind you that we have freedom of speech, too. And we have responsibilities, too. And some of us have not discharged our responsibilities. It is time we all stood up and spoke against that kind of reckless speech and behavior.
“If they insist on being irresponsible with our common liberties, then we must be all the more responsible with our liberties. When they talk of hatred, we must stand against them. When they talk of violence, we must stand against them. When they say things that are irresponsible, that may have egregious consequences, we must call them on it. The exercise of their freedom of speech makes our silence all the more unforgivable. So exercise yours, my fellow Americans. Our country, our future, our way of life is at stake. I never want to look into the faces of another set of family members like I saw yesterday — and you can help to stop it.”
When will Republican and conservative leadership stand up against the talk of hatred, the talk of violence, and the irresponsible untruths?
