By now, we are all aware of Tuesday’s tragedy – the bombing of the 2013 Boston Marathon which left three dead and approximately 150 injured and maimed.  

The question on everyone’s mind: who is responsible?

To many, the word “terrorism” is synonymous with “Islam.”

An unfortunate truth, but it cannot be denied.

With the 9/11 attacks relatively recent in American history and fresh in the minds of countless Americans, many suspected the fault lay with an Islamic militant group – namely, al-Qaeda.  While the suspicion may be relatively justified (and expected) due to previous attacks, some took it a step further.

Conservative columnist and Fox News contributor Erik Rush was at the forefront of controversial tweets this past Tuesday.  Shortly after the story broke, Rush tweeted: 

Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon! #bostonmarathon

A seemingly outraged follower of Rush’s replied:

Sweet God.  Are you ALREADY BLAMING MUSLIMS??

To which Rush retorted:

Yes, they’re evil.  Let’s kill them all.  

As public outcry over Rush’s remarks intensified, Rush announced he was merely being sarcastic.  

However, as Rush continued to tweet, he began to increasingly undermine his own claim.  Remarks such as

Hypothesis proven: Libs responding to “kill them all” sarcasm neglect fact that their precious Islamists say the same about us EVERY DAY.

and 

Keep ‘em coming, Islamist apologist worms! It’s good to know where and who you are!

do not necessarily legitimize his initial defense of sarcasm.

At the end of the day, we cannot not know for sure whether his remarks held any bit of sincerity or were purely sarcastic.  

Whatever the case, one thing is certain: Mr. Rush certainly falls into the category of viewing terrorism and Islam as one.