So Was the Fired Indiana Assistant Attorney General a 'Lone Wolf' Too?

There's been so much lunacy these last couple of weeks that it's hard to keep track of it all. In case you haven't heard, an assistant attorney general in Indiana (whose state reps have also fled like Wisconsin's) was fired for tweeting this vile hatemongering:

On Saturday night, when Mother Jones staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep demonstrators out of the Wisconsin capitol building--something that didn't end up happening--one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: "Use live ammunition."

From my own Twitter account, I confronted the user, JCCentCom. He tweeted back that the demonstrators were "political enemies" and "thugs" who were "physically threatening legally elected officials." In response to such behavior, he said, "You're damned right I advocate deadly force." He later called me a "typical leftist," adding, "liberals hate police."

Only later did we realize that JCCentCom was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana.

As one of 144 attorneys in that office, Jeff Cox has represented the people of his state for 10 years. And for much of that time, it turns out, he's vented similar feelings on Twitter and on his blog, Pro Cynic. In his nonpolitical tweets and blog posts, Cox displays a keen litigator's mind, writing sharply and often wittily on military history and professional basketball. But he evinces contempt for political opponents--from labeling President Obama an "incompetent and treasonous" enemy of the nation to comparing "enviro-Nazis" to Osama bin Laden, likening ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Service Employees International Union members to Nazi "brownshirts" on multiple occasions, and referring to an Indianapolis teen as "a black teenage thug who was (deservedly) beaten up" by local police. A "sensible policy for handling Afghanistan," he offered, could be summed up as: "KILL! KILL! ANNIHILATE!"

(Mother Jones has the original screenshots here).

So I have a simple question for movement conservatives:

Is Jeff Cox another 'lone wolf'? Thankfully, Cox hasn't shot anyone, but at what point should we stop describing people like this as aberrations?

Cox wasn't some loser in his mom's basement: he had a significant government position in which he played a critical role in his fellow citizens' futures. He is lock, stock, and barrel part of the Republican base, the Republican rank-and-file. It doesn't get more establishment than government prosecutor.

Part of the Republican base has become eliminationist. And I'm sure there are more of them with better anger management skills in positions of power.