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.
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
Fox News and many of the right-wing commentators (i.e. Rush, Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter) are spawning a hateful dialogue as I have not seen in my many years. People who are a little off-kilter are being prompted to push the envelope beyond the normal realm of acceptable conduct, some to the point killing. These killings we are now seeing are from the extreme right wing. Fox News anchor Shephard Smith is seeing the nut cases via email to Fox and he has the sense to state that he is a little more than concerned.
Unfortunately, there is no "unbaised" point of view. For example, if you listen to NPR, you never hear about inconsistencies in "liberal" or "progressive" people. Many, like Al Gore, are good people and fight for the right causes (e.g., the environment and the containnment of global warming), but Gore owns several houses, airplanes, boats, and uses more energy than any other citizen. Others talk about equality in education, yet they send their children to elite public schools.
I drove through the South, and I could understand a little better how those on the right see the world. Their communities are white, church-going Christians who live a (relatively) rural,not urban, life.I can at least understand how they might feel threatened by the changes in the country.
Particularly: (1) gay marriage. Even I can understand the conception that marriage is between and man and a woman. (2) abortion. When you see sonograms of the foetus sucking its thumb, you do begin to wonder about where the line should be drawn.
are u crazy????????? MSNBC is the MOST hateful, anti american and anti israel networks,ever. that olberman and maddow, just hate and are jealous of the successful fox news, those 2 are vicious!!!!!!!!!!!!
When your so-called "hate speech on the left" leads to actual murders, get back to me, you wingnut apologist. What Maddow and Olbermann say, as stinging as it may sound to your Republican ears, is nothing remotely like the vile garbage that spews out of O'Reilly, Beck, Savage, Coulter, Hannity and other filthmongers on the right. Political discourse in this country has been so hijacked and perverted by Fox News and other right wing extremists, that it is almost impossible for the left to be heard at all; and when we dare fight back, we're libeled as being filled with hate. When, really, what we are is angry, and quite righteously so. And if you yourself weren't such a right wing tool, you'd understand that.
I am not a Republican nor Democrat. I am affiliated with the party of Reason, the Libertarian Party. As for the abberant views of the R's and the D's concerning each other, both are single minded in attitude toward each other. They ascribe radicalism to each other by their outright dismissal of the other's talking points. I dislike intensely what the Obama administration is doing to the country but do I ascribe evil purpose to their methods of governing? No! I feel that Barrack sinscerely believes that socialism is the correct form of government (this flying in the face of ALL the failed socialistic government examples). There are a multitude of sins in the reasoning of the Left and the Right and recognition of the failed policies is essential to correcting them. Harsh critical blame on either side is non-productive. Only with dialog (effective argumentation rather than dismissive invective) will this country reach a govenment that was described by our forefathers and encoded in the Constitution.
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