UPDATE 1 : Guess it didn’t take long to find out the answer to the last question.

UPDATE 2: Crooks & Liars now has an interactive map of the “isolated incidents” since July 2008. 20 events so far.

The media and politicians have been vehemently denying that there is any connection between the rhetoric being slung on a daily basis, and want to make the claims that examples of right-wing extremism are just “isolated incidents”. Then, you get guys like Travis Corcoran of Arlington, MA, who was moved to post after the Tucson shootings that it was “1 down and 534 to go”, with Giffords the “1″ and the rest of Congress the “534″.

In a Twitter exchange, Corcoran said the following (from Think Progress):

“I assert that the US federal gov has grown unconstitutionally large, and the legislature exceeds the powers delegated to it by the people,” Corcoran wrote. “As per the Declaration of Indep, when a gov becomes destructive those ends, it may be abolished,” he continued, “and the most moral approach is that which spares the maximum number of lives. Thus, assasination is a legitimate tool.”

He goes on to further justify assassination as “morally legitimate,” citing “Catholic Just War doctrine” among other theories, and explains, “It’s illegal, yes, but it’s not un-American. America was founded on the idea of shooting gov officials. Lexington Concord!” In another tweet, he writes, “I disagree with murder. …but shooting politicians who pass illegitimate, unconstitutional laws is not murder.” And in case there’s any doubt about his sincery, he writes, “Nope, it’s not a joke. I’m 100% serious.”

Yup. He believes that assassination is a proper tool to change government, and that killing politicians is not murder. His words.

How many more of these guys are going to come out of the woodwork?