Plant v. To place or position an idea or series of ideas in public consciousness--typically through emphasis and repetition--for the express purpose of shaping public opinion and as a possible prelude to justification of normally prohibited acts at a later time.
-- Meed's Highly Unofficial Dictionary

Not satisfied with exploiting existing incidents of senseless violence to advance dark warnings of "right-wing hate mongering" the MSM has clearly decided to get out in front of the next one.

Consider ABC's model of balance and restrain: Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash. The justification for this subdued headline is 1) One protester holding up a really stupid threatening sign, 2) another protester stupidly (but legally) displaying a firearm outside the recent Town Hall and 3) an arrest of an individual with "mental problems" in California (relevance unexplained) . As an afterthought, the article also admits (almost with regret) that "the President's daily threat matrix has yet to reflect a sharp increase in threats".

Exhibit B is host Ed Schultz' oil-on-troubled-waters assertion that "Conservatives Want Obama To Get Shot." (By the way, is it possible in Schultz we at long last have the left's version of Ralph Kramden? Just asking.)

Typically we have to wait until a heinous act actually occurs before the usual suspects like Paul Krugman weigh in with boilerplate pieces like The Big Hate. Unhappily for the MSM, the Town Hall protesters are not the Red Brigades and the true crazies seem to have taken the summer off, so this leaves the MSM with the unenviable task of having to stir the pot with very thin ingredients.

Nevermind. Inasmuch as the laws of probability ensure that somewhere, somehow, sometime, some mental deficient will do something violent, it is only necessary to keep the pot boiling in anticipation. This is the very essence of the "plant". No conspiracy theories need apply; just plant the manufactured evidence then wait however long it takes for someone to "find" it.

The end game of all of this is disturbingly clear. Inasmuch as conservative talk radio and Fox News represent a significant thorn in the flesh to the liberal establishment it would be very much in its interest to classify conservative opinion--or at least insufficiently sterilized conservative opinion--as hate speech. If legislative muscle could be put behind this eventually, that would be game, set and match.

(For those who consider this far-fetched, please review the current proposed expansion of existing hate crime legislation, note the baby-steps that would be required in terms of definition of "injury" and "victim groups" to achieve the ends above, and tell me again why this wouldn't be attempted.)

During the worst of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, someone observed that if it were proven conclusively that God didn't exist the combatants would immediately resolve themselves into Catholic atheists and Protestant atheists. People who walk into public places with violence in mind are not driven by anything but their own demons, and, to paraphrase Mr. Krugman, those who attempt to exploit these tragedies for political gain do so at their peril.