Right Wing Bloggers Immediately Started Portraying the Kansas Neo-Nazi Shooter as a “Democrat”
One of the bizarre exercises right wing bloggers love to engage in after a far right nutjob kills some people: find some way to paint the killer as a “liberal” or a “Democrat.” If the criminal in question ever registered as a Democrat in his/her life, they’ll dig it up; and if he/she ever ran for office as a Democrat (even if it was without official party approval, and even if they ran as a Republican on other occasions), they’ll trumpet that to the universe.
It’s as predictable as the sunrise; they do it every single time, no matter how ludicrous their arguments are. I believe it’s some kind of reflexive defense mechanism, because they can’t rationally believe anyone is falling for this stuff, including themselves.
So of course, this was a high priority for the right wing blogosphere after far right neo-Nazi Frazier Glenn Miller allegedly murdered three people at Jewish community centers in Kansas. Glenn Reynolds was only one of many to push this nonsensical propaganda: KANSAS CITY SHOOTER IS FORMER DEMOCRAT GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, KLANSMAN.
Okay, they pushed the Democrat part down a ways in the story. Can you imagine the glee at the SPLC, though? They’ll fundraise off this for a decade.
UPDATE: Ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2006, too. Doubt the press will play this up much. Say, did you know that Fred Phelps was a Democrat?
Here’s the blog post by “American Power” that Reynolds is linking to in his update, a marvelous example of the subtle, nuanced wingnut blogger thought process. (I use the word “thought” loosely here.)
In point of fact, Miller is absolutely, without any doubt, a lunatic of the far right persuasion; he’s an admirer of Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul, and a long-time participant in far right and white supremacist causes. The only universe in which he’s “liberal” is the strange parallel universe of the wingnut blogosphere.