As usual, the story of the Muslim cab driver stabbed by a passenger is more complicated than first appeared. At the Village Voice, Foster Cramer has learned that the alleged attacker, Michael Enright of Brewster, New York (about an hour’s drive north of Manhattan, assuming light traffic) works for an Internet media company and recently spent time in Afghanistan filming military exercises. He was also visibly drunk when he got in the cab. So this may not have anything to do with the “mosque.” The guy may just be way screwed up.

Still, as Steve M. says, if the Muslim cabbie had stabbed Enright rather than the other way around, by now the righties would be calling it an act of “jihad” or “terrorism,” because when a Muslim does something, it’s always assumed to be a political act. Muslims don’t get the benefit of just being screwed up. And by now the Right would also be loudly demanding that every Muslim, liberal, and Democrat on the planet be loudly denouncing the act. “Being non-Republicans, you see, we’re partly responsible for all non-right-wing acts of political violence,” Steve says.

I’d add that these days we’re also held responsible for right-wing acts of political violence, because whenever a right-winger does something ugly, he is instantly tagged as a liberal infiltrator. Anyway, Steve continues,

So shouldn’t the press be demanding statements of condemnation from Pam Geller? Sarah Palin? Newt Gingrich? Rick Lazio? Rupert Murdoch? Roger Ailes? Debra Burlingame? Rick Scott? Can’t we say they’re condoning vigilante violence if those statements aren’t forthcoming by sunset?

Well, we can say that, but they’d just deny it. And in their minds, they are always right.