Once again, no one is defending a legitimate "hate group", or a group that is actively planning violence. The issue is that int he minds of these people, if you are against illegal immigration, you are a hate group. If you do not support gay marriage, you are a hate group. I also read that a lot of the groups they are claiming are "on the rise" were actually in existence and active well before 2010 - it's just that the SPLO just started classifying them as hate groups.
Hey, if I want to go in and start reclassifying things, I can make just about anything seem like it's "on the rise."
The bottom line, mcbrett, is that this is a group with an agenda that wants people to think that conservatives are scary people. And it has a willing audience in you and the msm that will continually cite it with absolutely no vetting of its sources or of what constitutes a "hate group." This is about using a small minority of deplorable organizations and tying them to "radical" conservatives (i.e. religious people.)