To me, this story could be framed more usefully. Rather than asking if toxic talk will re-emerge (which is speculative), it would be better note the importance of being on guard against it. If the author had links, or at least quoted more extensively from "Start Stopping Obama Now!" by Jay Severin (see link) readers would have known that this article called for destabilizing the Obama presidency to avoid his re-election in 2012--which to me has more import than the author's sarcastic aside about the minutemen would have left me to believe. The author loses some credibility by quoting so extensively from Morris Dees's Southern Poverty Law Center, which has received criticism as being more about its fundraising than its ... More »

An outstanding overview of hate speech and threats directed toward Barack Obama and what, if anything, should be done about them. Don't miss the sidebar, an argument against censorship, which I've posted in the links.

Very well researched piece that presents an even-handed yet illustrative look at past hate speech against Obama, with a sober analysis of what the future might hold.

This reminds me of the elephant in the room that everybody has been trying to ignore. Reilly has just pointed it out, and collected a lot of evidence that it really is sitting there in the corner. Curiously, he fails to mention that Obama received Secret Service protection sooner than any other candidate in history. So, clearly, those paid to take this seriously did. He also fails to point out that they will continue to do so, and that actual public threats against a sitting president will be investigated and possibly prosecuted. That could account for the drop off in hate speech. Or Palmer could be right. I'd rather think that.

This brings in 4 viewpoints and provides significant evidence for the major claims.