Climate of Violence Fomented by Political Gun Nuts

Regarding the recent shooting deaths in Arizona, I partially blame the political and media idiots who have fomented a climate of acceptable violence by using symbolism promoting it in their messages. Sarah Palin's example is the most glaring: cross-hairs over the Democrats whose stances she politically opposes, on a map on her website. Shooting victim Representative Gabrielle Giffords was one whom she targeted. But Palin isn't the only one. West Virginia's Joe Manchin, a Democrat, put out ads during last year's senatorial campaign in which he was shooting at targets that represented liberal values he opposes (to show what a gun toting, good ol' boy he was), just to be elected West Virginia senator over a Tea Party wingnut. Closer to home, Debbie Boyd (another Democrat), apparently having seen Manchin's commercials, decided to copy him to show the local yokels how gun-crazy (and therefore electable) she was (she lost her Florida house race anyway). Then there were those gun nuts carrying their arms openly into political rallies, one even showing up at an Obama event in New Hampshire (and the dude even looked like Lee Harvey Oswald).

I would like to believe that these widespread attempts by some to intimidate their political opponents through the not-so-subtle threat of using armed violence has finally peaked out and will subside.

I sadly don't think these people have learned anything, though, and more tragedies like the Arizona shootings will continue to occur. They are very heavily into self-justification and have convenient media stars (like Beck, Hannity, Coulter, Savage, Levin, and Limbaugh) to prop them up by insisting that the "other side" is just as bad. But I see nothing of the sort happening from the political left that is going on with the paranoid, conspiracy-obsessed extreme right, abetted by the likes of Palin and Beck.