political foo: Beware right-wing extremists!

[alpharaposa]

It seems the DHS has issued a report warning about possibly violent right-wing extremists who might be getting more numerous and/or violent.

The report (pdf)

A round-up of reactions from various right-wing extremists:
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
Michelle Malkin
The American Legion
Powerline
Mark Steyn
Jonah Goldberg

Let me repeat this paragraph from the report, defining "right-wing extremists":

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

So, how many potentially violent extremists do we have in the audience?

EDIT: Michelle Malkin's point about the timing of this report's release is well-taken, by the way. Tomorrow, thousands of people will be taking part in Tax Day Tea Parties across the country to protest government spending.

Comments

[zeeth_kyrah]

At the point where the wall of police in riot gear meets a single man throwing a rock and encouraging those around him to attack the police.

I don't think the media actually cares what literature someone distributes (and thus the racist literature will be a forgotten side-note in the story); it's all about the signs and flags they wave over their heads. Confederate flags are common enough in some regions; who would notice unless it was outrageous in some manner (larger than every other flag present, or displayed with an actual weapon present, or carried into an open space [which attracts attention since there are few open spaces in crowds], or some other means)?

The Nazi flag would be outrageous enough to catch some camera time; but who would bring one? Who would display it? It virtually guarantees an interview -- but it wouldn't play into the story the mainstream news media has already established, and thus would be regarded as a somewhat separate thing, an individual story as opposed to the mindset of the crowd.