Fox News this morning took a look at Arizona shooter Jared Loughner‘s actions and possible motivations along with Aitan Goelman, the man who prosecuted Timothy McVeigh for his role in Oklahoma City bombing. Should or could Loughner, Goelman was asked, be tried as a domestic terrorist. His answer? In short: Not likely.

It’s been said before, and it will probably be said again: Ron Paul is not your typical Republican politician. Appearing on AC 360 last night, fill-in host Sanjay Gupta sought comment from the former Presidential candidate on the controversy surrounding what many are calling the “Ground Zero Mosque.” Paul made clear his frustration in blaming the whole of Islam with the acts of a small radical sect, and compared to the bombing of the Murrow building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh

If you needed further evidence that the American right has gone off the rails, Right Wing News (last seen publishing their Conservative New Media Spank Bank) has just put out their list of the 25 Worst Figures in American History (as selected by 43 conservative blogs). Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh could only make it to #9 on the list, while Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama earned the top two spots, respectively. Worst of all, though, is that Snooki doesn’t seem to have gotten a single vote. (h/t Doug Mataconis)

Something about Joe Klein‘s sedition claim against Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin has struck a very deep chord with conservatives. Although Palin herself hasn’t responded, Beck has reacted with calm but passionate reiterations of his love for America, which even garnered him some tender reinforcement from Bill O’Reilly. Rush Limbaugh shot back at the criticisms in a WSJ op-ed this morning, calling the claims “self-serving nonsense.”

Glenn Beck has still obviously not gotten over being called seditious and compared to Timothy McVeigh. Yesterday, it was Joe Klein’s turn to incur the wrath of his ’50s TV fireside chat; today was Bill Clinton‘s. And if the left could get away with comparing him to McVeigh, Beck seemed to figure, he was going to turn the tables on them and compare Oklahoma City to the tragedy in Waco, Texas.

Promos running on MSNBC these last few weeks made the not-so-subtle connection between today’s endlessly talked about Tea Party movement and the violence Timothy McVeigh wreaked upon the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma: “15 years later can McVeigh’s words help us understand today’s anti-government extremists.” However, the special failed to make any real connection between the two.

It’s interesting to see Clinton take up this mantle so forcefully: one has to wonder whether he was asked to do so, or if he just saw an opening to be useful and insert himself into the current raging debate over political rhetoric and violence. At the risk of being cynical, he’s certainly getting a lot of airtime out of it (something he’s never been averse to).

Former President Bill Clinton (calmly) responded to Rush Limbaugh’s statement yesterday that the responsibility for a “future incident such as Oklahoma City” would fall “squarely on the shoulders of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama” telling This Week host Jake Tapper that Limbaugh “doesn’t make any sense.” He goes on.

Former President Bill Clinton sat down with Wolf Blitzer yesterday to chat about his assessment of the passion on the part of the Tea Party movement, and after making similar statements yesterday in a speech to the Center for American Progress, he repeated that something like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing couid happen again given the anger of the movement.

Last night Jon Stewart had Rachel Maddow as a guest on his show — sort of the Liberal equivalent to Palin showing up on Beck — to talk about her upcoming special on the McVeigh tapes. And no, there were scant few Tea Party comparisons to be had…especially from Stewart.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Timothy McVeigh’s name has been in the news a lot of late. This April 19 marks the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings, meaning that regardless of what was going on in the world we’d likely be talking about him. That said, MSNBC is making a bit of leap in their promo for an upcoming special on McVeigh, hosted by Rachel Maddow.

At what point does this all become very worrisome? In less than three weeks the 2nd Amendment March will take place Washington D.C. on April 19th to be exact, which also happens to land on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Terrible, thoughtless, possibly inciting, coincidence? Maybe.

Earlier this week, Fox News host Sean Hannity broadcast his eponymous show Hannity from the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Towards the end of the show, Hannity made a rather startling claim that conservatives won the debate regarding health care. Perhaps more startling, or more to the point, unsettling, was his facetious labeling of his fans as “Tim McVeigh wannabes.”

In case you ever wondered what it might be like to watch Glenn Beck cover a breaking news event, his reaction to today’s Austin plane crash was a pretty good hint. Answer is: he didn’t do too bad (all things considered), though, truth be told, I did spend the first fifteen minutes of his show holding my breath waiting for him to say something truly career-ending.

The mainstream media continues to report the evolving story of the Austin pilot who crashed his plane into an IRS office, and the portrait of the pilot, Joseph Andrew Stack is beginning to emerge as a follow up story. An anti-IRS screed/suicide note has been found online, and its also been reported that he set his house on fire before taking off in his airplane. The next phase of the story is how this very troubled individual will be portrayed on cable news. The first up? CNN’s Rick Sanchez.

Who: Byron Pitts (“60 Minutes”) What: The New York Press Club’s book event for “Step Out on Nothing” Where: McGraw Hill Building When: November 10, 2009 Thumbs: Down

“I think we have a problem,” said Frank Rich to Rachel Maddow on her show Wednesday night. He was talking about people bringing guns to health care rallies. People are bringing guns to events where President Barack Obama is speaking. And man, is that scary.