Washington Post columnist criticizes Mike Malloy's Monday comment about shooting GW Bush

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Colbert King, a Washington Post columnist whom I've never heard of, claims in his latest column " Caution: Words can inflame" that Mike Malloy sank to Glenn Beck's level on Monday's program when Malloy said: “So when does SEAL Unit 6, or whatever it’s called, drop in on George Bush?” regarding Malloy's opinion that Bush was responsible for more deaths (through the wars) than was bin Laden.

I would not have believed it if I hadn’t heard it myself. Monday night, Mike Malloy, host of a nationally syndicated show on satellite radio, took freedom of expression to a really ugly level. Malloy, described on his Web site as a “traditional Liberal Democrat doing his part to return the Democratic Party to its Liberal roots,” talked about the death of Osama bin Laden and the lives lost in the war on terrorism. Malloy said former president George W. Bush was responsible for more deaths than bin Laden, and he asked “So when does SEAL Unit 6, or whatever it’s called, drop in on George Bush?”

Whoa.

Did Malloy suggest that Navy SEALs treat the former president of the United States the same way they did the founder of al-Qaeda in that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan? Forget for a moment the absurdly false and offensive likening of Bush to bin Laden or the body count charge. The suggestion by a talk radio host that Bush should be executed is abhorrent. It warrants, at the very least, condemnation across the political spectrum.

But, unfortunately, tirades such as Malloy’s have become almost commonplace in this country. And they’re heard on the left and right.

And then King goes on to compare that with wingnut commentary:

Abrasive, venomous tirades against the president of the United States are daily fare on cable TV and radio talk shows.

Take, for example, President Obama’s tasteful and respectful visit to the World Trade Center site this week, and his wreath-laying and meeting with firefighters and victims’ families.

“Absolutely despicable,” said Fox News’ Glenn Beck. “Extraordinarily offensive,” he called it.

Eric Boehlert, writing for Media Matters for America, noted that the Obama-haters in the media have convinced themselves and their followers that “Obama is a fraudulent and illegitimate president.” They fill up the “hate tank,” he said, “by trying to demean the president in the most petty and pointless ways possible.”

And King concludes:

The display of contempt, on view with Malloy in his suggestion of Bush’s execution and with Obama’s critics on the right, can have consequences. In this trigger-happy country, it can have consequences indeed.

I thought that liberals wanted more civil discourse after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords got shot. So I guess that Malloy can't complain about right-wing incivility and violent rhetoric anymore. I bet that a message like Malloy's remark about shooting Bush would've been deleted by DU admins for violating the rules. Oh, the only left-wing radio show I listen to right now is Thom Hartmann, and I sure as hell have never heard Hartmann advocating/glorifying violent actions on his show; Thom sure keeps it civil.

And while inciting violence should be a crime, should radio hosts watch their language in case some insane wacko Jared Loughner type might misinterpret their words violently?