Circle of Bad

Yesterday I wrote about the Confederacy and repercussions in our current day and age. The anti-federal government animosity of the past now manifests itself in the more extremist elements of Tea Party/teabaggers and their fellow travelers, as egged on by Fox News and the contemporary Republican Party that seems to cover before them, as anti-Obama/anti-Democrat/anti-health reform to the point of a wild proliferation of rightwing murder threats.

Is there direct line of culpability anywhere here? Check out the opinion of the mother of the man just arrested for threatening the life of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

"Greg has -- frequently gets in with a group of people that have really radical ideas and that are not consistent with myself or the rest of the family and -- which gets him into problems," said Eleanor Giusti, 83, in an interview with ABC 7. "And apparently I would say this must be another one that somehow he's gotten onto either by -- I'd say Fox News or all of those that are really radical, and he -- that's where he comes from."

I'll be interested to hear more about another gentleman just arrested in East Texas:

"It does appear that there were two motives: one, that he was disenchanted with the federal government, and, two, he was disenchanted with an individual who he perceived that had wronged him," says Featherston of 52-year-old Larry North, who was arrested today.

North was indicted Wednesday on a charge of illegally possessing a pipe bomb. (Read the indictment here.) Authorities had identified North as a person of interest in connection with a string of incidents in which explosive devices were placed in mailboxes in East Texas.

They say that he was witnessed putting a pipe bomb in a collection box in Tyler Wednesday. Prosecutors say North distributed 36 devices in 23 locations, but he has not been charged beyond the possession count.

When I see a Republican saying that there are (at minimum) disproportionate threats against Democrats, that the rhetoric is way too rough on their side of the aisle, and that it is never appropriate to express one's political opposition in terms of violence, let alone spit, curse, threaten or actually plan or carry out attacks, then that's a Republican I'll look at differently than the equivocating rest.

And credit where credit is due, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), not incidentally one of Obama's first friends when he joined the Senate:

But in a recent town hall meeting Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) offered some kind words for her, saying "she's a nice lady." Coburn added that although he and the Speaker differ on policy issues, she's a "good person."

Perhaps even more stunning than Coburn's conciliatory words for Pelosi was his criticism of Fox News.

"What we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what's going on and make a determination yourself," he said, adding: "So don't catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good. The people in Washington are good. They just don't know what they don't know.

I may not agree with Sen. Coburn on most politics, but he appears to be quite a respectable human being.