Paul Krugman is correct in his concern about the level of bellicose puffery emanating from right-wing media and I share his concerns. When Fox news sends out a steady stream of commentary across the nation which uses the language of “America under attack“, “the war against Christmas”, and “the need for citizens to take back our nation”, we should not be surprised by anything. But for him to suggest a direct linkage between the use of that speech and either a lack of willingness to address the security threat from white supremacists like James W. von Brunn or actual support for his actions by Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh, is perverse and offensive.
It’s also pretty ironic since Mr. Krugman writes about them (and I no fan of theirs) in precisely the same tones which they write and talk about those they oppose! Not to mention that every night on MSNBC we are treated to Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman telling us about the continued danger from “war criminals” like former VP Cheney, and explaining to us how someone from the right is “the worst person in the world”.
Would Mr. Krugman suggest that we are doing a less than stellar job in Iraq or actually pulling for al-Qaeda in Pakistan because of Maddow and Olberman? I think not!

The bottom line is that hate speech exists on both the left and the right, and it serves none of us well. I suppose we should thank Mr. Krugman for demonstrating that with his piece in this morning’s New York Times, but that’s a little more gratitude than I can muster after a week like this. Instead, I suggest we take a page from Jewish mourning practice as the family of Holocaust Museum guard, Stephen Johns, mourns the loss of their heroic son, grandson, and brother.
Nothing is normal for the first seven days after the funeral. No work, no going out, no attending to the business of life. It’s called Shiva and it’s a time to be comforted by friends, family and the community as a whole. It’s not a time for politics.
So perhaps Mr. Krugman and those on the right who are using this tragedy to politic for looser gun laws (“someone would have been able to shoot von Brunn before he ever fired a shot”), among other issues, can back off and let us mourn and reflect before returning to the battle talk and hate speech they all love so much.