Washington On Alert 

The nation's capital is on edge today with reports of ricin-laced letters sent to Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and President Obama. All mail delivery to the Capitol Building has been suspended. Just before noon, two Senate office buildings were partially evacuated and locked down due to suspicious packages. 

The day's events have brought back eerie memories of 9/11. Just one week after the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, letters containing anthrax were sent to Senate offices in Washington and to media outlets in New York City. One year later the metro Washington area was terrorized by the D.C. sniper, John Allen Muhammad, a radicalized Muslim convert. 

The Left's Default Position -- Politicize Everything 

Yesterday I told you about David Axelrod's explanation for why President Obama didn't want to use the word "terrorism." Evidently, to many liberals the word itself amounts to ethnic profiling. And since the "man-caused disaster" happened on tax day, the left assumes a Tea Party extremist must be responsible. 

Before the blood had been cleaned off the sidewalks, Barney Frank used the bombing as a club to beat up conservatives who favor lower taxes and smaller government. MSNBC's Chris Matthews jumped on the bandwagon, saying, "Normally domestic terrorists … tend to be on the far right." Really, Chris? 

From the Unibomber to Joe Stack (the guy who flew his plane into an IRS building), to the environmental wackos and animal rights nuts who target scientists and burn SUVs, to a big part of the Occupy Wall Street movement -- the left is home to many violent extremists. Speaking of domestic terrorists, Obama's old friends in the Weather Underground are now members of liberal academia teaching our children. 

But one of the worst examples of the media politicizing the Boston bombing came yesterday from MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid. She praised Obama's brief statements Monday evening and Tuesday morning and then added this critique:

Either Ms. Reid is ignorant or she lied. President Bush addressed the nation three times on 9/11. Three days later, he made his iconic visit to Ground Zero, where he seized a bullhorn and said to the workers who couldn't hear him, "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" 

But if you're one of the "low information voters" that Rush Limbaugh often refers to who happened to be watching MSNBC yesterday, you got one more reason to despise George W. Bush. 

The Left's Hope 

In yesterday's report I wrote that the left often seems to hope that the perpetrators of terrorist acts turn out to be conservatives. Sure enough, I was right! The title of this Salon column says it all: "Let's Hope The Boston Marathon Bomber Is A White American." 

Who thinks like that? Well, it's the same left-wing mindset that refers to "man-caused disasters," suggests that jihad is really a good thing and struggles mightily to avoid using the word "terrorism" at all. 

Sadly, in the fevered minds of many on the left, the real enemy isn't the death-worshipping cultists, but conservative Christian capitalists. 

Obama On Gosnell: No Comment 

During a recent NBC interview, President Obama was asked about the trial of Kermit Gosnell, who performed gruesome late-term abortions and "snipped" the spinal cords of babies born alive. He said, "I can't comment on it because it's an active trial." White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also said he would not comment "on an ongoing legal proceeding."

I'm sure that is why Obama did not comment on the arrest of Harvard Professor Louis Henry Gates or the Trayvon Martin shooting. Oh, wait, Obama did comment on those cases, so there must be another reason for his silence other than "ongoing legal proceedings." 

Senate Votes Today On Second Amendment Rights 

The first votes on the gun control bill drafted by Senate Democrats will take place this afternoon. Nine amendments are expected to be on the floor for consideration, and they run the gamut from banning so-called assault weapons to expanding concealed-carry rights. Depending on the outcome of the votes, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the bill "could actually expand the Second Amendment."

In a surprising development, Democrats appear to be scrambling to come up with enough votes for their ballyhooed background check legislation. This is the part of the bill that they claimed time and again had overwhelming public support. Yet, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), co-author of the compromise, said this morning that he expected it to fail. 

We will give you a thorough report on the results in tomorrow's "End of Day."