Amid outcries from conservatives back in April, a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report, detailing how the current political and economic climate was facilitating an increase in right-wing extremism and terrorism, was rescinded. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano even went as far as to apologize for the report, which was conducted under the auspices of the Bush administration (and was accompanied by a report on left-wing extremism).
Now after a murdered abortion doctor and a domestic terrorist attack on the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, by a white supremist, the report suddenly has an errily prescient quality. It should be noted that the last time a Democratic president took office, in 1993, there was a similar increase in right-wing extremist activity, culminating in the Oklahoma City bombing, perpetrated by the "lone wolf" Timothy McVeigh.
At a closer look, there's no question why many (not all) conservative media figures called foul when the DHS report was leaked. As Paul Krugman points out, these are the very individuals, on telivision and talk radio, who are fueling the flames of extremism. And they are doing this in such a way that is outside the established borders of legitimate and healthy democratic debate and deliberation--faciliting paranoia and dangerous conspiracy theories.
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