Those Pesky Tea-Baggers Are At It Again

Left Blames Tea Parties for Austin Plane Crash

On Thursday, a deranged man supposedly angry at the IRS flew a plane into one of their offices in Austin, Texas. Joseph Andrew Stack, the pilot, was killed in the crash, and several people were injured. Stack also apparently set his house on fire before leaving on his mission; his wife and daughter escaped. The attack is being considered criminal, not terrorist.

Columnist Michelle Malkin writes, "Investigators found a Web posting, identified as Stack's 'suicide manifesto,' in which he railed against tax laws, inequity, government and crony capitalism. He also targeted 'puppet' George W. Bush, murderous health care insurers and the pharmaceutical industry." His angry tirade concluded, "The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed." Not exactly the words of a supporter of capitalism.

Clearly, Stack was trying to get back at what he called "Big Brother IRS man," but his politics are rather muddy. That didn't stop Leftists from blaming the Tea Party movement. We saw it coming.

Time magazine, The Washington Post, New York Magazine and talkingheads at the cable networks immediately jumped on the anti-IRS theme, while ignoring Stack's slam of capitalism. Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post's Post Partisan blog, wrote, "[A]fter reading his 34-paragraph screed, I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement." New York Magazine said that "a lot of his rhetoric could have been taken directly from a handwritten sign at a tea party rally."

One blogger at the popular Daily Kos Web site railed, "After months of threats on the United States government, and government institutions, the Anti-Government forces known as the teabaggers have struck with their first 911 [sic] inspired terrorist attack." Numerous comments on the Huffington Post blog likewise threw blame in the wrong direction.

Tea Partiers do not support communism, and they do support the Rule of Law. Stack's words and actions are the antithesis of the Tea Party movement's goals.
The Left, however, never lets facts get in the way of a good story.