In interviews with Politico, the law enforcement vets say that massive social change (e.g., first African-American president) + rageahol = scary shit. The typical profile of a presidential assassin (or would-be assassin) might be a whacked-out loner with no coherent political views, but even those "can be influenced by the atmosphere around them. Some of the security experts said angry rhetoric and images in the culture can agitate and inspire those loners to cross the line from anger to violence."

And yes, talk radio rants and even Joe Wilson's infamous tantrum count as potentially dangerous "examples of fraying American nerves." Former Secret Service agent Ronald Williams told Politico, "When there are vitriolic comments, acrimonious commentary and anger, the likelihood of violence escalates." Williams then added, "I'm not a real big fan of Nancy Pelosi's, but she is correct."

Speaking of out-of-control anger and "acrimonious comments," David Neiwert at Crooks and Liars notes that "ACORN" has pretty much officially become a euphemism for the N-word, as demonstrated in a video from the 9/12 Teabagger protest. The video shows a foaming-at-the-mouth middle-aged white dude chasing three African-Americans (there to sell "Don't Tread on Me" flags) out of the protest, screaming the whole time. Neiwert:

As you can see, the man — who identifies himself as Tim Jones — shouts after them: "ACORN! These people are ACORN!!! They are frauds!!! ACORN is fraud!!! Obama sucks! This woman sells signs for profit of ACORN!!"

It attracts more harassers, and it verges on the point of an outbreak of violence when the D.C. bicycle police show up and break up the scene.

The whole thing is worth watching, but the highlight for me is around 5:30, as Jones is recapping the incident for the camera. He says one of the women smacked him in the face and adds, "They were getting very aggressive — of course, that's the nature of these people! They try their best to incite you, so that you will act in an inappropriate fashion, and then they will blame you for your actions."

Call me crazy, but I'm not nearly as concerned about a few young flag-sellers inciting violence as I am about raving middle-aged white guys, from Tim Jones to Glenn Beck. As another former Secret Service agent, Joseph Petro, told Politico, "Politically inspired violence is a real problem. If you add in racism, the bandwidth of potential violence expands exponentially."

Social Change Could Spark Violence [Politico]
ACORN Is A Handy Substitute For The 'N Word': At 912 Event, Black Teens Harassed By Hysterical Teabaggers [Crooks And Liars]

"[I]s it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels?" she writes, before taking a turn for the positively Colbertian: "Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans." Oh, well, then!

Other things that ring true for many Americans: Alien abduction narratives, professional wrestling, forged Kenyan birth certificates, the idea that we live in a meritocracy, our president's secret commitment to Islam, our president's secret commitment to socialism, our first lady's secret commitment to black separatism, reality television, the promises of commercial weight loss programs, "post-racial America." Just off the top of my head.

Beyond that, Palin merely regurgitates Republican talking points on healthcare reform, and tired old talking points at that. As the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder puts it, "Replacing Medicare with vouchers...not new or remotely plausible, even if GOPers do well in the next two elections. Quoting Ronald Reagan talking about that type of proposal...not new. Etc." She talks a lot about "common sense," then throws out lines like, "Instead of poll-driven 'solutions,' let's talk about real health-care reform: market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven" — as if anyone with a lick of common sense could believe that those three goals are remotely compatible. But you know, "market-oriented, patient-centered healthcare" probably rings true for many Americans.

Ambinder's issued a challenge to the media: Don't take the bait. Don't pretend she's a credible policy analyst. Don't bow to her desperate desire to resuscitate the phrase "death panels"; just let it go peacefully.

The media — by which I mean the cable news networks, primarily, will determine whether Palin's view on health care becomes influential. There are many Republican, conservative health care spokespeople who have earned the right to speak for their party's principals, and, truth be told, can recite the talking points (complete with Ronald Reagan quote) better than Palin and her writer can. They're the ones who should be offended if Palin's op-ed becomes the voice of the opposition tomorrow, because Palin isn't seen by most Americans as a particularly trenchent analyst of policy.

Oh, I'm pretty sure we should all be offended if that happens. The question is, will the cable news networks acknowledge the truth here — that Palin is not "a particularly trenchant analyst of policy," to say the very effin' least — or is truthiness enough for them, too?

Obama And The Bureaucratization Of Health Care [Wall Street Journal]
Media Challenge: Will They Take The Palin Bait? [The Atlantic]

I don't want to say, "I told you so," but I did suggest, the day the affair broke, that John hadn't told Elizabeth the whole truth. She backs up my assertions.

The next morning he told me why, or told me a version of why. He had made a terrible decision and had been with the woman. After I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up.

And the next day John and I spoke. He wasn't coy, but it turned out he wasn't forthright either. A single night and since then remorse, was what he said. There were other opportunities, he admitted, but on only one night had he violated his vows to me.

That, she learned later, was untrue.

Like most wives - or husbands - in my position, I wanted to believe his involvement with this woman had been as little as possible. A single night, another opportunity, but that was it and he had wanted away from her.... It turned out that a single time was not all it was. More than a year later, I learned that he had allowed [the woman] into our lives and had not, even when he knew better, made her leave us alone.

I'm saddened to think what she means by saying that John let Rielle "into our lives," because it doesn't sound like she's just talking about the affair.

If you'll recall, Elizabeth took a lot of heat for "allowing" John to continue campaigning — heat that I thought was ugly and unwarranted, in part because I figured he probably hadn't ever really told her the full truth of the situation. Elizabeth finally responds to those criticisms, too.

So much has happened that it is sometimes hard for me to gather my feelings from that moment. I felt that the ground underneath me had been pulled away. I wanted him to drop out of the race, protect our family from this woman, from his act. It would only raise questions, he said, he had just gotten in the race; the most pointed questions would come if he dropped out days after he had gotten in the race. And I knew that was right, but I was afraid of her. And now he knows I was right to be afraid, that once he had made this dreadful mistake, he should not have run. But just then he was doing, I believe, what I was trying to do: hold on to our lives despite this awful error in judgment.

In other words, he told her about the affair two days after his formal announcement — not before, and then pressured her to continue despite her misgivings while she was vulnerable.

The worst you can say about Elizabeth is that she's no fan of Rielle Hunter and is rather unimpressed by her husband's choice of mistresses.

It didn't occur to me that at a fancy hotel in New York, where he sat with a potential donor to his antipoverty work, he would be targeted by a woman who would confirm that the man at the table was John Edwards and then would wait for him outside the hotel hours later when he returned from a dinner, wait with the come-on line "You are so hot" and an idea that she should travel with him and make videos. And if you had asked me to wager that house we were building on whether my husband of then 28 years would have responded to a come-on line like that, I would have said no.

Lest you think that Elizabeth is being less than charitable, that's about how Rielle Hunter described their meeting to Newsweek just before John told Elizabeth about the affair.

Elizabeth goes on to suggest that Hunter is a moocher and a hanger-on.

In months of talking with him, I have come to understand his liaison with this woman, if I have, not as a substitute for me. Those with any fame or notoriety or power attract people for good reasons and bad. Some want to contribute and some want to take something away for themselves. They flatter and entreat, and it is engaging, even addictive. They look at our lives, which from the outside in particular are pictures of joy and plenty, and they want it for themselves.

Which, as the cuckolded wife in this scenario, is an understandable way to feel about the woman who, by all accounts, pursued and had an affair with her husband. But Hunter's own friends — and even the New York Post — described her in a similar manner in early 2008.

The New Age hippie, who friends say "mooches off other people and sleeps on their couches because she doesn't believe in money," tells anyone who will listen about her fling with the good-looking guy. She recently walked up to a Page Six pal she'd just met and said, "Oh, I'm so stressed out. I've been having an affair with [a candidate]."

And with the reports that Edwards' finance chairman, Fred Baron, bankrolled her move to the West Coast and her lifestyle there until his death, that might not be terribly far from the truth.

As much as I enjoy a good salacious political scandal, I do have to ask: can we go back to talking about health care reform really soon? Because, honestly, the latter is more important.

Elizabeth Edwards: How I Survived John's Affair [Time]

Related: John Edwards, Untucked [Newsweek]
Just Asking [Page Six]
Dallas Lawyer Fred Baron Paid For Edwards' Mistress To Relocate [Dallas Morning News]

Earlier: Elizabeth Edwards' Resilience And Rielle Hunter's Revenge
John Edwards Always Knew He Would Disappoint Women
Hey Ladies, Lay Off Elizabeth Edwards (And That Means You, Bonnie Fuller)
Elizabeth Edwards: "I Think We Have The Capacity With Great Leadership To Change Things"
Elizabeth Edwards Talks About Issues Unrelated To Infidelity