A listener who is upset that Pete referred to alleged Holocaust Museum terrorist James Von Brunn as a “right-wing extremist” sent a link to a story raising the idea that conservative magazine The Weekly Standard might have been considered a potential target by Von Brunn. The listener — and to be fair, the Politico.com article he linked to — insinuated that maybe Von Brunn isn’t a right-wing extremist after all, since he might have had a bone to pick with the a decidedly right-wing publication. The article finds even more reason for ambiguity and confusion:

Von Brunn’s white supremacist roots put him under the rubric of a “right-wing extremist,” but the substance of his views — which included everything from believing that President Bush may have been in on the September 11 attacks to denying that President Obama is an American citizen — are too far on the fringe to fit into conventional political classification.

Thinking 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy and thinking Obama isn’t a US citizen are “fringe,” to be sure… but they don’t really contradict that he is on the right-wing fringe. And did they include “everything” between those two views, or was that just hyperbole from the commentator?

As for why the FBI reportedly found a slip of paper in Von Brunn’s pocket that had The Weekly Standard’s address on it, I can only speculate… but here goes:

1. Von Brunn wanted to drop by and pay for his subscription renewal in person.
2. Von Brunn thought he might be able to go there for resupply when he ran out of ammunition.
3. Von Brunn hates Jews, and is upset that there’s one running his favorite right-wing hate-mongering magazine.
4. Von Brunn is really a leftist who hates conservatives, and after making a clean getaway from his Museum slaughter, like any good leftist Museum hater, he was going to take his frustrations out on Bill Kristol.

Which one of these is least likely?

HotAir blog follows up with even more, claiming Fox News might also have been a target.

In all seriousnes, it is not uncommon for extremists on both sides of the spectrum to reserve their most-seething vitriol for more-moderate sharers of their own broad leanings. The idea is that they should know better, or theyr’e “selling out” the cause, etc. Neither TWS nor Fox News would satisfy a true right-wing extremist, just like I think Mother Jones and MSNBC are for wimpy liberals, not true leftists.

And all that being said, yes, we’re probably jumping the gun about this guy’s views. He hated the Fed, he hated Jews, he hated Obama, but maybe he’s just a crazy person whose politics just seem like hardcore conservatism.