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FRC Shooting: 'Hate' Label Has Gone Too Far

Dana Milbank says it's time liberal groups tone down their rhetoric

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 17, 2012 11:45 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Family Research Council was quick to blame the shooting at its offices on its arch-rivals at the Southern Poverty Law Center, releasing a statement accusing the SPLC of giving the attacker "a license to shoot an unarmed man" by calling the FRC a "hate group." That's going too far, writes Dana Milbank at the Washington Post, but the Council does have a point. We "need to be careful about hurling accusations that can stir up the crazies."

"This shooting should remind us all … that while much of the political anger in America today lies on the right, there are unbalanced and potentially violent people of all political persuasions," Milbank writes. He doesn't agree with the FRC on gay rights, "but it's absurd to put the group, as the law center does, in the same category as ... the Ku Klux Klan." Gays and lesbians are slowly winning over the public by example. Their supporters "gain nothing by sticking inflammatory labels on their opponents." Click for Milbank's full column.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins gestures during a news conference to discuss Wednesday's shooting, Aug. 16, 2012.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins gestures during a news conference to discuss Wednesday's shooting, Aug. 16, 2012.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins gestures during a news conference to discuss Wednesday's shooting, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins gestures during a news conference to discuss Wednesday's shooting, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 103 comments
LReyes
Sep 5, 2012 2:29 PM CDT
The Family Research Council is not a hate group, neither was George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party.
HANKHILL
Aug 18, 2012 12:33 PM CDT
and i thought it was about chicken! my bad!
793tango
Aug 18, 2012 3:48 AM CDT
The SPLC a hate group? Right. These folks seem to think it's OK to demonize gay people, harass women seeking abortions (and other health services),  impose their narrow idea of what's right on everyone and yet they're NOT a hate group. As for shooting an unarmed man, that license was given by their similarly conservative pals the NRA (who wants EVERYONE to have a gun.).
 

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