Why didn’t you post the whole thing?
The news of the tragedy in Arizona has raised a lot of questions about the motives, speech, etc of the Right. Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano has raised concerns about "Lone Wolfs" and military threats. Worried about this all, I did a little check on past assassination of politicians in the US:
•Andrew Jackson (Attempt) by Richard Lawrence (Determined as deranged) •Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth (Confederate Sympathizer, pro slavery) •William Seward (Attempt) by Lewis Powell (Booth Accomplice) •James Garfield by Charles Guiteau (deranged fame seeker) •William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz (anarchist/Anti-Capitalist) •Theodore Roosevelt (Attempt) by John Schrank (Deranged - Was told to kill Rosevelt in dream) •Huey Long by his security detail (Carl Weiss is potential assassian, but the case is confused) •Franklin Rosevelt (Attempt) by Giuseppe Zangara (Deranged anti-capitalist) •Harry Truman (Attempt) by Purto Rican Seperatists •J. F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald (Communist) •Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan (Palestinian Anti-Zionist) •Malcolm X by Talmadge Hayer (In apprent power struggle in Nation of Islam Power) •Martin Luther King by James Earl Ray (Perhaps a paid assassination by racist elements) •Richard Nixon (Attemp) by Samuel Byck(Believed government was conspiring to oppress the poor) •George Wallace (Attempt) by Arthur Bremer (To achieve notoriety) •Gearld Ford (Attempt) by Lynette Fromme (Charles Mason Follower/Wack Job) •Gearld Ford (Attempt) by Sara Jane Moore (Progressive) •Leo Ryan by Jim Jones Cult (Marxist) •Ronald Reagan (Attempt) by John Hinkely (Insane) •George H. W. Bush (Attempt) by Sadam Hussain and associates •Bill Clinton (Attempt) by Frank Corder (Publicity oriented Suicide) •Bill Clinton (Attempt) by Fancisco Duran (Deranged - Attempting to kill Alien Mist, blah, blah) Ther have also been several politically oriented bombings/criminal actions including:
•Black Panthers (Leftists) •Weather Underground (Leftists) •Army Math Center bombings by Anti War radicals •Bank robberies by Symbionese Liberation Army (Left wing radical group) •Oklahoma City by Tim McVeigh (Nazi/Anti-Government)
In reviewing many acts of political violence the major motivation seems to be fame seekers and nut cases. There are many examples of presidential assassins who are progressive, marxist, etc - left leaning. The violent groups through the 60's and 70's were mostly left leaning anti war groups. It is only recently (Oklahoma City) that there have been serious anti-government right wing led efforts. There is no real evidence that the right wing in the United States is prone to kill or blow things up for a political end (OK City a notable exception).
As far as Arizona goes, I bet we find out the kid suffers an untreated mental illness. Many of the assassins above had mental conditions, in which there target was an a-political choice simply selected for the moment. This has nothing to do with Palin or the Right.