On Friday, former militia leader Mike Vanderboegh called for anti-Democratic vandalism across the country to protest the health care bill.
Vanderboegh posted the call for action Friday on his blog, “Sipsey Street Irregulars.” Referring to the health care reform bill as “Nancy Pelosi’s Intolerable Act,” he told followers to send a message to Democrats.
“We can break their windows,” he said. “Break them NOW. And if we do a proper job, if we break the windows of hundreds, thousands, of Democrat party headquarters across this country, we might just wake up enough of them to make defending ourselves at the muzzle of a rifle unnecessary.”
And, apparently in response, there were attacks in–at least–Wichita, KS, Tucson, AZ, Rochester, NY, Niagara Falls, NY. Vanderboegh has proudly claimed credit for the coordinated attacks.
Remember how, several weeks ago, Michael Isikoff rationalized away any concerns about someone flying a plane into a federal office building? One distinction he made is that white American terrorists–the Unabomber, the anthrax killer (!), the tax protestor–don’t coordinate with others who have the same enemy.
ok, just to weigh in on this—I think some of the comments miss what I take to be the fundamental distinction. The underpants bomber, for all his ineptitude, was equipped and dispatched by a foreign enemy—Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula—whose ultimate leader (bin Laden) has declared war on the United States and who has demonstrated his willingness and intent to inflict mass casualties on our civilian population. That makes underpants man a terrorist and had he been captured overseas, would have made himan enemy combatant—and why the Obama administration dispatches the U.S. military and Predator drones to destroy the people who sent him here. Similarly, the Fort Hood shooter may have been a disturbed “lone wolf” but he was in ideological alignment and in communication with a member of the same foreign enemy.That makes them both terrorists.
The Austin tax protestor, the anthrax scientist wacko, the Unabomber—all did heinous things that we can describe any way we want—certainly what they did were terrorist acts— but they all remain a very different kettle of fish, which is why Mr. underpants man gets more attention that Austin tax protestor flying plane into building.
Now, to be fair, Isikoff also said that to qualify as a terrorist you had to set out to cause mass casualties (though of course the IRS protester failed only in execution on that front).
But as to coordination to serve a mutual enemy? We’re officially there now.