The incident at the D.C. Holocaust Museum just happened a little over an hour ago and it will undoubtedly dominate the news for at least the next couple of days, but it's really not that hard or unreasonable to draw some preliminary conclusions.
First and foremost, early reports have the shooter -- a spry 89 years old -- linked to "anti-government" and "white supremacist" groups.
In other words, he's probably a Republican.
There are so few active anti-government and white supremacist liberals that the likelihood of this guy being anything else are almost non-existent.
Obviously this man being a Republican isn't why he was crazy and hateful with a history of threatening government employees with weapons -- his victims at the federal reserve survived that incident -- and yet the anti-government movement clearly has roots in American conservatism. And while they say that correlation is not causation, that doesn't mean that causation doesn't necessarily exist.
The report authored by the Department of Homeland Security, ordered by the Bush administration, and savaged by Republican pundits like Michelle Malkin as an attack on people like herself was, actually addressing people like the assassin of Dr. Tiller and this D.C. shooter who have genuinely extremist anti-government views with -- and this is no shock but actually expected -- ties to white supremacy groups.
Right-wing militia activity (always tied to anti-government movements) go dormant when a Republican is in the White House (correlation) but become active when Democrats are in power. Gun sales skyrocket, anti-government protests increase (hello teabaggers, hello causation), and incidents of "lone wolf" violence are printed in blood on the front pages of newspapers nationwide.
Is it just a coincidence that the last two acts of violence were by what are very likely true-and-true Republicans who probably still have Bush/Cheney and NRA bumper stickers on their cars?
At what point do we stand back and take note that liberals and Democrats simply do not do this kind of thing?
Religious extremism of the Christian brand led to the assassination of Dr. Tiller, the kind bred in churches preaching hatred and death in the name of protecting life. Anti-government extremism led to the D.C. shooting, anti-government hatred bred from teaparty protests, racist GOP attacks, and right-wing militias.
The DHS report warned us that this was going to get worse and conservative pundits and Republican politicians on the hill took it personally, demanding that the head of DHS apologize and resign. I think those politicians and those pundits should resign. America is still a dangerous place full of anti-government conservative extremists and white racists. Militias are arming themselves for war against their own people and they aren't waiting to spill blood on our streets, and the Republican party has been egging it on all the while.
The D.C. shooter, according to early reports, once tried to take officials at the Fed hostage (fully armed) because of "unfair" or "illegal" interest rate increases. This kind of extremism is the direct result of the hate and fear spread by the organizers of the recent teaparty protests -- Republicans in Congress spoke at these events and they were covered mercilessly by Fox News, legitimizing and encouraging ever more extremest and deviant behavior. Texas Governor Rick Perry took it to another level by saying that Texas should secede from the union, a violent and hateful act towards the United States that would undoubtedly result in hundreds if not thousands of dead Americans and the possibility of another civil war. What possible step is there beyond that other than to just talk things into your own hands are start killing people that make you piss your pants?
White supremacists took the teaparty government protests as a sign that their movements were gaining power and many of them urged their racist members to attend the teaparty events to protest America's black president and the government itself. And while run-of-the-mill conservatives said these were examples of random, minority behavior that had nothing to do with them, it's all starting to add up -- responsibility cannot be denied any longer.
While conservatives held their petty, adolescent teapartys, the far-right extremists decided it was to be their coming-out party for bloody violence. Conservative leaders in Congress are stoking fears that the President will take away American's guns and rights and they sponsor and speak at anti-government protests attended by white supremacists and encourage people to buy as many guns as they want or need to defend themselves from an America that they may have to secede from, and then act surprised when the far-right militants actually get with the program and start killing their way to the promised land, where there are no Jews, no blacks, no taxes, and no liberals.
Blood from these two violent acts lay squarely on the shoulder of the Republican party in D.C. and in America's heartland, one that has been stoking anti-government hatred, racist sentiments against women (Sotomayor) and the President (for being black), urging violence against doctors, and furiously arming the militias who want to fight and kill us all.
The GOP owns this now.