Conservative Media Freaked Out Over DHS Report On Right Wing Extremists (VIDEO)

When a Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism was released earlier this year, the conservative media responded with outrage and mockery. In light of Wednesday's attack at the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum, Fox News' anchor Shep Smith pointed out that "they warned us for a reason." Media Matters has looked back at how those warnings were ignored.

"There are no Timothy McVeighs out there right now," declared James Dobson on Fox News in April. "They're making a big deal out of something that hasn't happened and may not happen."

Fox News contributor Andrea Tantaros dismissed the report's findings as a "made up threat."

Joe Scarborough reacted with both anger and indignation, expressing shock that the report was "targeting veterans returning from war" while also laughing hysterically when it was brought up: "This is a funny story this is a laughably -- they're nuts, Janet Napolitano has gone nuts -- this is funny."

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Comments

[poobah]

09:44 AM on 06/12/2009

What did they think all their hate mongering would produce? These are the consequences of what they preach. Bearing responsibility for their actions seems to be the furthest thing from their minds.

[Rog49Thomas]

09:28 AM on 06/12/2009

In the past 10 years the number of hate groups increased from 602 to 925 according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. as per The USA Today

They define "hate groups" as those with a racial or religious target.

[beckpod1]

07:17 AM on 06/12/2009

Bush regime never kept us safe....and now it is responsible for crazy domestic terrorists! See..words are important..and words matter. You use the media(and low IQ retards believe all media spoken words)(especially when it is patriotic in nature),and you have small bands of gun people...with Rush Limbaugh in their heads..trying to save america.
Correct info should not be a political choice...it should be like food and water...basic and important!
Fox should lose it's ability to air it's propaganda...when it comes to national security!
Ok...this is corp. america....you can sell death and and target anyone!

[poaster]

05:06 AM on 06/12/2009

These idiots didn't realize an initial report under Bush with essentially the same findings came out on Jan. 26th. 2009.
And, after years of turning a blind eye to (or outright supporting) Bush-era curtailments of civil liberties, conservatives have predictably ignored reacted with great hostility to the news...before stopping to take stock of the situation. The report on right wing groups, it turns out, was prepared by the Extremism and Radicalization Branch of DHS' Homeland Environment and Threat Analysis Division. That Division falls under the purview of the Under Secretary For Intelligence & Analysis--or, in this case, the Acting Under Secretary For Intelligence & Analysis Roger Mackin, who was appointed on September 10, 2008 by noted left wing partisan George W. Bush.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/conservatives-upset-about-dhs-report-issued-under-auspices-of-bush-appointee.php

[Rogan]

06:59 AM on 06/12/2009

You misunderstand. All that outrage the right wing media and their "pundits" put on, on the radio and the television, it wasn't for your benefit, or mine; it was specifically tailored to give comfort to those extremists in the audience considering violence. Being told their crazy ideas have made them one of the guys that DHS report mentioned, might actually snap a guy out of it, before the shooting spree. Being told by all their favorite pundits, that the report was attacking mainstream Republicans for their ideas, was what the potential murderers in the audience(s), including Von Brunn, needed to hear, to feel comfortable with going through with the actions the pundits hoped they would take.

[Layman23]

03:54 AM on 06/12/2009

They should be. For all that lies and hate mongering, they should be.

[ladyearth]

02:26 AM on 06/12/2009

We cannot help but notice how much violence and murder comes from right-wing extremists. Those right-wing nuts like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Bachmann and Palin really do enjoy pallin' around with terrorists, don't they?

[jsgaetano]

01:06 AM on 06/12/2009

The sad thing is, the terrorism coming from conservatives is just going to get worse.

[Deja Peterson]

12:51 AM on 06/12/2009

irony is bliss.... and while their at it, anyone who advocates this kind of extremism should be treated as if they helped to commit the crime themselves..

seditous speech isn't protected by the 1st amendment.

[DarkWitch]

12:18 AM on 06/12/2009

Reminds me of the former administration's response to pre911 intelligence. I guess the conservatives don't think our homegrown terrorists can take out that many people, and they are willing to bet lives on it. Anyway, even if our domestic terrorists succeed, they are only taking out the bad guys as far as conservatives are concerned.

[JohnSawyer]

12:16 AM on 06/12/2009

Scarborough, like many others, often reveals a frequent ignorance of what's happening, by merely offering his "opinions". For example, it's been long reported that some of the people who volunteer to fight in Iraq, are gangbangers, white supremacists, militia members, etc. who want to learn the US military's fighting techniques, in case they ever get a chance to use those techniques in the US in their fabled "civil war", or even just to use whatever techniques they can short of that, to make them a "better" gang member, etc. It's also been long reported that even when an Iraq soldier isn't part of these dregs of society, that many come back changed, sometimes prone to violence. So the DHS report wasn't based on some liberal fantasy notions. Scarborough shows that, like many other media blowhards, he isn't nearly as informed as he pretends, but is, too often, simply a pack of opinions.

[Keith52]

10:39 PM on 06/11/2009

Janet N. didn't even order the extremist reports to be created. Bush's people did the reports. And yet Hannity and co continues...

[chaselv413]

10:33 PM on 06/11/2009

I bet the right wing media isn't laughing anymore...seems like Janet Napalitano was absolutely correct, and the righties have eggs on their faces. How stupid they must feel. Or not.

[llisa]

10:57 PM on 06/11/2009

Not, I'm pretty sure. This is somehow Obama's fault, I've heard.

[3dtrix]

10:33 PM on 06/11/2009

The right wing talking heads all have blood on their hands, and more to come - and they don't care. In exchange for money and celebrity, they rationalize evil and give permission for their listeners/viewers to actualize their darkest impulses.

Why do we now never hear the "N" word in decent society or in the media? Because by cultural consensus, permission was withdrawn for its use. If permission had not been withdrawn, it would be in use every single day by those who still feel free to use a hundred other forms of hate speech and de-humanization - "femi-nazi", anyone?

People will clearly pay big money to have someone "respectable" (they're rich and famous, right - so it must be ok) give them permission to be mean, hateful, ignorant, bigoted, or violent, and they will reward the givers of permission with an astounding degree of loyalty.

The hate speech will never stop until permission to engage in it is withdrawn...

[karela]

09:30 PM on 06/11/2009

I don't know how MSNBC can tolerate Joe Scarborough. John Stewart was hilarious with his Napoleon skit in response to Joe's latest goofball stuff. If you missed it, catch it on line by googling Daily Show. Mucho funny!

[underoath]

09:20 PM on 06/11/2009

I almost feel bad for the right wing . They must be the most unlucky creatures in the country.

[militarymomforobama]

10:14 PM on 06/11/2009

Actually luck has nothing to do with it. They made their collective bed, and know they get to "lie" in it.

[chriss0114]

12:40 AM on 06/12/2009

they won't lie in it; they'll refuse to lie in it and they say it is the O's fault somehow and you hannity will edit footage to support his position as he always does his his pea sized brain audience will eat it up

[Lasnoe]

10:22 PM on 06/11/2009

don't feel bad for just us..... you should feel for all Americans.... We're all unlucky.... you guys are running both congress and the white house....

I like the Karl Marx portrait.... Isn't that telling of the current political environment, that guys like you finally have the nerve to openly support such bankrupt ideologies....

[RachelMc]

10:27 PM on 06/11/2009

WOW u cant even stay on topic. wont u comment on the reality of the dhs report instead of going off on an unfounded tantrum.

[mlaiuppa]

12:26 AM on 06/12/2009

Yeah. We were really unlucky when Bush was running both the White house and congress. It's going to take us a long time to clean up his mess.

Bankrupt? You used the word Bankrupt?

Bwa ha ha ha ha!