1) FOX writes that DHS suspects Loughner “may have been influenced by a pro-white racist organization.” Note that the charge is not that Lougnher was actively involved in AmRen’s activities, but that Jared Taylor wrote something on, say, genetic differences or mass immigration that inspired Loughner to take bloody action. DHS is, essentially, making a “hate speech” accusation; Jared is accused of “inspiring racial hatred” by publishing things that the government, media, and academia have deemed out of bounds.
The factual accuracy and even specific nature of what Jared wrote is immaterial.
2) I suspect it’s no coincidence that FOX got out in front of this story. Left-liberals like to accuse Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin of “racism” to put Republicans on their heels and score political points. The conservative movement and Republican-oriented media typically respond that the REAL danger is the unauthorized Right—variously, racialists, conspiracy theorists, and the Ron Paul/anti-Fed movement—and not patriotic egalitarians like themselves.
Before the last election, Sarah Palin created a map with crosshairs honed on the districts of Democratic incumbents who were electorally vulnerable. The Left took no time to pounce on this now-discomforting imagery. FOX, no doubt, now wants to deflect all suspicion away from the presumptive Republican nominee and pitch it towards the “unpatriotic” Right.
FOX also likely wants to protect the Tea Party. (Though Tea Partiers should be warned—you are expendable.)
The irony of all this is that I seriously doubt Jared Taylor has ever typed the name “Gabrielle Giffords” before this morning. It's mainstream conservatives—not the unauthorized Right—who are obsessed with electioneering and defeating Democrats.
3) And let’s remember that FOX isn’t acting alone.
DHS is the product of the 9/11 aftermath—the days of the terror alert system, the PATRIOT Act, and national unity vis-à-vis foreign enemies. These are days conservatives look back upon with great fondness.
The “right-wing extremist” memo [PDF] from the spring of 2009 certainly woke many self-styled patriots up to the fact that “Homeland Security” is less about protecting the nation from Islamic terrorists and more about protecting the government from the internal threat of a radicalized population.
Conservatives frequently complain about the TSA, another 9/11 organization, searching and patting down little old ladies and giving thuggish-looking Muslims a pass. They seem oblivious to the reality that the TSA might be incompetent but its tactics are not irrational—the government’s perceived enemy is us.
