Memo To Malkin

Democracy in America wonders about the Republican reaction to that DHS report on "right-wing extremists":

Nobody likes being insulted by a government agency, least of all during tax week, but shouldn't conservatives be reacting to this by... distancing themselves from the extremists?

Historically, when Democrats have been able to paint Republicans as far-right radicals, the Democrats have won. Look at Bill Clinton's placing the blame for the Oklahoma City bombings on right-wing extremism, or look at Democrats in the 1960s blaming John Birchers for the climate that led to the Kennedy assassination. Republicans really can't afford to be blamed for right-wing extremism. It's foolish for the government to pin that on them, but it would be doubly foolish if they did it to themselves.

Thoreau welcomes the new civil libertarians on the right.