DHS 'Right Wing Extremists' Report Was Ordered by the Bush Administraion

Fox has out-foxed itself again.

The Obama administration has been taking heavy fire from conservatives about a Department of Homeland Security report that warns of possible increases in recruitment of "right-wing extremists." There was evidence of this at yesterday's DC Tax Day Tea Party, where many protesters' signs referenced the report, including the man in this picture.


Fox News has been leading the charge, painting the report as a declaration of war on conservatives, clearly ignoring the "extremist" part of "right-wing extremists." Think Progress has compiled some of Fox's overheated rhetoric, with the perfect cherry on top:



That's right, Fox's own reporter completely de-fangs their entire argument.

That is not to say that the report is all okay, now. Even if the report is an accurate assessment, from a pragmatic standpoint, I question the wisdom of making such a declaration public. While the DHS did do a report on left-wing groups, their conclusions were decidedly less menacing.

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So, maybe lefty extremists are less scary than right-wingers. As long as the assessment is accurate and useful, I don't require that everyone get a participation medal. But if such an imbalance creates the perception that one ideology is under more scrutiny than the other, perhaps that information is best kept from the public. Nobody wants to feel like a target.

However, if the assessment is flawed in some other way, that is cause for concern. People on the right, left, and center all want to be safe from harm, from whatever direction it comes.

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