A brief chronology:

An Objective Assessment on Public Safety Concerns

April 7, 2009: The Department of Homeland Security releases a nine-page assessment document entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" (in PDF).  Among the findings:

Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts. Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn--including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit--could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past.

The assessment also warned of "a heightened level of extremist paranoia" and "lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."

Right-wing Blowback and Politicization

April 14, 2009: Former Speaker Newt Gingrich:

The person who drafted the outrageous homeland security memo smearing veterans and conservatives should be fired

April 14, 2009: Conservative commentator Sean Hannity intentionally misrepresents the focus of the assessment as targetting "people who have pro-life bumper stickers."

April 14, 2009: Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin:

The "report" ... was one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I'd ever read out of DHS. I couldn't believe it was real. ...

By contrast, the piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives.

April 15, 2009: House Republican leader John Boehner demands an apology from the Department of Homeland Security for the report.

The Report's Tragic Accuracy

May 31, 2009: Dr. George Tiller, a frequent target of right-wing hate and violence for performing late-term abortions, was murdered.  The suspect apprehended is a right-wing extremist with a long history of violent rhetoric and criminal actions on behalf of the right-wing anti-choice movement.

June 10, 2009: A lone gunman opened fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, killing a security guard and injuring others.  The suspected shooter is a right-wing extremist with a long history of violent rhetoric and criminal actions on behalf of the right-wing white supremacist and Holocaust denier movements.

The Moral of This Brief Chronology:

Our public safety and national security should never be politicized, especially not by Republicans and right-wingers desperate for relevance in the media.  How many times do Republicans have to be wrong and divisively political - and have their "wrongness" be illustrated in tragic events - before they either change their tune or have the traditional media stop taking them seriously?

There's more...

There is already one investigation into allegations that Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by putting undue pressure on Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Palin's former brother-in-law. Now new allegations are arising that Palin injected politics into the firing of another key public safety official, as ABC News reports.

Gov. Sarah Palin is already facing ethical questions over her firing of the Alaska public safety commissioner, and now she faces questions over the firing of a longtime local police chief.

After taking over as Mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Palin fired the longtime local police chief. The former police chief, Irl Stambaugh says he was fired because he stepped on the toes of Palin's campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association.

The allegations from Stambaugh included that his move to combat drunk driving by moving last call from 5:00 AM to 2:00 AM was not well received by bar owners, and that his position on concealed weapons did not sit well with the NRA. While a judge ruled that it was Palin's prerogative to cashier city employees like the police chief for any reason, the optics of allegedly firing a police chief for trying to crack down on drunk drivers and concealed weapons -- particularly coming in the wake of allegations of the removal of another key public safety official because he would not fire the Governor's former brother-in-law -- are decidedly bad and raise some fundamental questions about Palin: What are her views on public safety? Does she believe that politics and familial grudges are more important than public safety? Or does she have some other explanation of why not one but two top public safety officials were fired under her watch?

There's more...