Another sad aspect of tragedies such as yesterday’s is that they must instantly play out within our noxious political culture. It’s really sickening to see how liberals can hear that a security guard got shot to death in a an attack on an insititution dedicated to memorializing the systematic murder of millions of innocent people, and instantly think of how they can exploit the event to score cheap political points. But I don’t think conservatives are innocent here either, and I don’t think the way to respond to the absurd claims on the left is to try to turn the tables in an attempt to tie liberals to this atrocious act of violence. At some point, we have to say, enough is enough. This has got to stop. I disagree with liberals ideologically, and I’m passionate enough about my own beliefs that I made a career out of defending them. But however passionately I may disagree with liberals, I do not think –other than the fringiest of the fringe — that they want to see a U.S. soldier killed at a recruiting station. Why can’t we acknowledge that there are some absolute lunatics in this world who will commit violence for all sorts of reasons, and that they have nothing in common with people — left or right — who are merely vocal about politcal views. David Berkowitz (aka Son of Sam) killed because he believed he was ordered to do so by a demon who posessed a dog, and John Hinckley shot Reagan because he was obsessed with Jodie Foster. Anybody who murders another innocent human being — whether an abortion provider, a soldier, or a museum guard — is operating on a whole different level than a television host or political blogger. We all know this. Why can’t we just be grownups about it and just honor the memory of the dead in these circumstances, rather than turn it into another bitter political battle?