Right-wing extremists: A threat?

Get out your "BS detector," said conservative commentator Michelle Malkin in her blog. The left-wing Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security is warning that right-wing extremism is rising due to the economic crisis and the election of the first black president. DHS spokesmen say the assessment began last year, but it's no coincidence that it came out as conservatives protest President Obama's reckless spending.

It's "ludicrous," said blogger Charles Johnson in Little Green Footballs, for the "hyperventilating" right-wing blogosphere to claim this assessment, which began before Obama was even nominated, was concocted to smear critics of Obama's handling of the economy. It's a fact that far-right hate groups are trying to recruit disgruntled military veterans—think Timothy McVeigh.

How ironic, said Glenn Greenwald in Salon, that "the political faction screeching" and accusing the DHS of a partisan hit job is the same one that, during the Bush administration, expanded federal police powers. "When you cheer on a Surveillance State, you have no grounds to complain when it turns its eyes on you."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up