You know all the foofaraw over the report put out by the Department of Homeland Security on the danger of rightwing extremism in America? The report that Michael Savage thinks warrants the ouster of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano so she can be replaced with a “real American”?

I don’t have time to really get into it right now but the key thing to remember about the report is that it was requested by the Bush administration. As usual, GOP leaders have thrown facts to the wind and are falsely claiming that this is proof-positive that the Obama administration is drawing up plans to oppress conservatives (see, e.g., Rep. John Boehner)

This brings me to my main point. Can anyone cite to me any recent example of a GOP leader or media talking head that was able to say anything on a material matter that wasn’t a gross mischaracterization or complete and utter fabrication? It just absolutely disgusts me that the only other major political party in this country is 100% committed to doing nothing but lying all day long. Maybe some of you view me as naive for getting angry about this but I just refuse to accept the idea that it should be appropriate for supposedly serious national leaders to use their power and political office to distort reality and lie to the outside world.

Update: One can usually expect a lot of rightwing Kool-Aid drinking nuttiness coming out of the blog Little Green Footballs. It appears they ran out of Kool-Aid:

First, this DHS assessment was begun more than a year ago, before Barack Obama was even nominated. It has absolutely nothing to do with “tea parties,” and it was not done at the behest of the Obama administration.

Second, I’m seeing it brought up repeatedly that the report contains a reference to veterans, mentioning that some of these groups are seeking to recruit them. This is nothing more than a fact, and the report even says that only a tiny number of veterans would join such groups — but that their talents could bring a great deal of capability to the extremists. Has everyone simply forgotten that Timothy McVeigh was a veteran?

The DHS report is not intended to target anyone but the most extreme elements of the far right, and it’s depressing to see so many bloggers jumping to totally unwarranted conclusions.

Herridge: Essentially, the driver in these intelligence assessments is the downturn in the economy. What they say, essentially, is that when people have less money, that they’re out of work, they feel disenfranchised. This is fertile ground for groups on the left as well as groups on the right.

And you remember, from reporting on this show, Shep, that even at the end of last year, prior to the inauguration, the Department of Homeland Security under the Bush administration was sounding the alarm about the potential for right-wing groups to act, specifically because of the economy, and also because America was going to have its first African-American president.

Smith: So if this bulletin from April 7 looks at the right-wing groups, is there a bulletin that looks at left-wing groups as well?

Herridge: Yeah, we were able to obtain that bulletin as well. It came out in January, and didn’t get — there it is — didn’t get the same attention. It looked specifically at groups like the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, groups that in the opinion of Homeland Security, in the future will try and attack economic targets and specifically use cyber-attacks, because they see that is sympatico, or in concert with some of their other beliefs.

So there are two assessments. The one on the left, the one on the right is the one that’s getting the attention because of the leak.

… I would point out that both of these assessments, Shep, were commissioned under the Bush administration. It takes some time to do them. They only came out after he left office.