When does it become somewhat understandable to want to fly planes into buildings?
Appearing on Fox News, newly-minted Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) showed notable sympathy and scant outrage for Joseph Stack, who crashed his airplane into an IRS building Thursday in an apparent suicide bombing Thursday.
"You don't know anything about the individual," Brown said. "He could have had other issues. Certainly, no one likes paying taxes, obviously."
Stack's writings strongly suggest he was motivated by anti-government outrage as he had written fuming anti-tax, anti-IRS, and anti-health care reform screeds in internet message postings.
He even wrote what appears to be a politically charged suicide note dated the day of the bombing and signed "Joe Stack (1956-2010)." It contained the words, "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man... take my pound of flesh and sleep well" and was obtained by Talking Points Memo.
Fox News' Neil Cavuto called it "crazy stuff" and asked Brown for his reaction. Brown echoed talking points put forth surrounding his election to a previously Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts.
"People are frustrated," Brown said of Stack's seeming rationale. "They want transparency, they want their elected officials to be accountable and open and talk about the things that are affecting their daily lives."
Retired police officer Lou Palumbo clearly indicated it was an act of terrorism. "If this individual had done this in Iraq, we'd be calling him a suicide bomber," he said Thursday on CNN.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), who represents the district where the incident occurred, agreed. He called it an act of "domestic terrorism."
Noting that several Fox News hosts -- including Megyn Kelly and Greg Jarrett -- implied it was not an act of terrorism, David Neiwert of Crooks and Liars was flabbergasted.
"Huh? Since when is attempting to blow up a federal building NOT an act of domestic terrorism?" he said.
Trying to put Stack's anger in context, Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart wrote, "I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement."
This video is from Fox News, uploaded Feb. 18 by Think Progress.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/v/EEDXW87ptFU&hl=en_US&fs=1& expand=1]
