He died a brutal, heart-wrenching death. It caused me to weep for him, as it did others. But I think that it's entirely likely that even then, he didn't think of them as evil. The whole situation probably didn't even compute in his mind.
There have been plenty of blatant, clear, black-and-white, obvious evidences of the evils that we face. Yet the left continues to vehemently, even violently deny their existence. I believe that, for many of them, their blindness is willful, stubborn and complete.
The people who say that the left will come around when we get attacked again are wishful thinkers. Never ever underestimate denial. They'll just assume the attack was created by the Republicans to "reign with fear" and to justify a police state.
Half of America could be burning and to them that would just show the lengths the Republicans will go to to keep (or gain) power.