Yet another “right wing” attack that isn’t

A few months ago, a man by the name of James von Brunn attacked the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In spite of a whole list of beliefs consistent with extreme left-wing politics, he was put down as evidence of growing “right wing” terror threat.

NewsBusters highlights yet another instance of the US media putting a violent crazy person in the “right wing” category when clearly they’re spouting communist nonsense too.

To add a hint of balance, Graham chose this point to admit that Stack also held anti-capitalist beliefs…in a quick reference comprising all of 48 words:

But he also takes traditionally left-wing swipes at corporations for keeping the little guy down, and signs off, “The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.”

Did Graham express concern about other left-wing criminals, such as Alabama professor Amy Bishop?

Nope.

Having taken care of that little detail, Graham returned to his worry over conservatives and brought in an expert from – wait for it – the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Groups that track extreme right-wing violence say they see a definitive spike in activity. “This attack comes in the context of an absolute explosion in militias and the larger antigovernment ‘patriot’ movements in the last 12 to 18 months,” says Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “This has been driven initially by nonwhite immigration for the last 10 years, which is reflected in the person of Barack Obama, which represents a very real and irreversible demographic change. Second, the economy has played a role. Unemployment has stayed high. There’s a huge amount of anger about bonuses for bankers, at the same time that most middle-class and working-class Americans don’t see things getting better, and in fact getting worse.”

NBers might recognize the name Mark Potok. He’s the same guy who appeared on MSNBC’s Chris Matthews show that same day to call Stack a radical conservative, which NewsBusters documented. SPLC has a long history of partisan accusations against the right while not being too keen on tracking left-wing violence.

…

Did Newsweek think to ask any conservatives what they had to say about this? Not at all. Graham’s piece didn’t offer one single shred of attempting to defend anti-tax sentiment, didn’t provide prospective from anyone on the right, and didn’t bother admitting far-left kooks can be equally dangerous.

By contrast, when Amy Bishop killed three people at the University of Alabama, Newsweek wasn’t interested in learning about her politics. In fact, Newsweek writer Kate Dailey covered that shooting by blaming it on guns. And when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed fellow soldiers in Fort Hood, Newsweek blamed it on the military.

But when any hint of conservative leanings appear, suddenly it’s proof of unhinged right-wingers mounting systematic violence.

And that unbalanced view is what gets repeated in the media of countries like New Zealand.