Eric Rudolph pleads guilty

... but in the least "guilty" way possible:

ATLANTA (AP) -- Right-wing extremist Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty Wednesday to carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks across the South, admitting to one of the crimes with a hint of pride in his voice and a wink at prosecutors.
[...]
In Birmingham earlier in the day, Rudolph pleaded guilty to an abortion clinic bombing there that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse. A much more defiant Rudolph winked toward prosecutors as he entered court, and during the hearing he said the government could "just barely" prove its case if it had gone to trial.

With his head tilted back, Rudolph looked down his nose slightly as U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith in Birmingham asked whether he detonated the bomb.

"I certainly did, your honor," Rudolph said.

What a creepy, disturbed man. Thank god he's off the streets.

Update: John at Big Brass Blog notes that the coverage of Rudolph has been a little tepid in some quarters, notably Reuters' bizarre use of the term "survivalist" to refer to Rudolph ("the 38-year-old survivalist and suspected white supremacist"). The AP, above, is more direct in their terminology, calling him a "right-wing extremist," but truly, as John asks, "Does anyone really think that Reuters would have hesitated to use the word "terrorist" if we were talking about Ali bin Rudolph, the bus bomber?" Good point.