Politics | Dana Milbank FRC Shooting: 'Hate' Label Has Gone Too Far Dana Milbank says it's time liberal groups tone down their rhetoric By Kevin Spak Posted Aug 17, 2012 11:45 AM CDT Copied Family Research Council President Tony Perkins gestures during a news conference to discuss Wednesday's shooting, Aug. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) The Family Research Council was quick to blame the shooting at its offices on its arch-rivals at the Southern Poverty Law Center, releasing a statement accusing the SPLC of giving the attacker "a license to shoot an unarmed man" by calling the FRC a "hate group." That's going too far, writes Dana Milbank at the Washington Post, but the Council does have a point. We "need to be careful about hurling accusations that can stir up the crazies." "This shooting should remind us all … that while much of the political anger in America today lies on the right, there are unbalanced and potentially violent people of all political persuasions," Milbank writes. He doesn't agree with the FRC on gay rights, "but it's absurd to put the group, as the law center does, in the same category as ... the Ku Klux Klan." Gays and lesbians are slowly winning over the public by example. Their supporters "gain nothing by sticking inflammatory labels on their opponents." Click for Milbank's full column. Read These Next New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. Iran's supreme leader makes first public comments since ceasefire. Man accused of killing his daughters might be dead. Her blood isn't compatible with anyone else's. Report an error