And then I'd have to deal with, well, THIS.

There's probably something to that; fact is, we could spend eternity trying to decipher all the motives and impetuses of a lunatic but getting nowhere. I do think all the paranoid extremist hatred the many far right demagogues have been stirring up incessantly since Obamas election contributed though. The guy may be apolitical, but he wasn't living under a rock, and while conspiracy theories may have been the bread and butter of liberals in the days of Nixon and Reagan, if you cruise those sites now (and, ironically, I've spent more time there than on Kos, for all that the latter gets flung at me often) you'll find two groups in the overwhelming majority: The right, and the insane. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they don't, and there are definitely a few leftists, sane and otherwise, but my point is not that Loughner's conservative, more that he's what McCarthy used to call a "fellow traveler" during HIS extremist, hateful paranoid witch hunts against the left.

I think proximity AND liberalism were factors, along with the extremist rhetoric from far right demagogues, and the biggest factor was almost certainly that the guy's nutty as fruit cake even is he HAS quit all he hallucinogens and other drugs he's reported to have habitually used in the past. There are far more liberal Congressman than Giffords, but he'd have needed a plane ticket and more than a few hours preparation to get to most of them. On the other hand, he'd have been hard pressed to find a more liberal politician, let alone Congressman, in AZ, let alone Tucson.

All of that aside, the fact remains: Giffords' publicly stated ten months ago that Palins violent imagery would have "consequences" and after she was shot Palin called such suggestions "blood libel". We can debate whether or not that libel charge is accurate, but either way Palin's accusing Giffords as much if not more than anyone repeating what she first said. So far the only person willing to admit that, let alone defend it, is Cannoli. Again, I commend his courage and deplore his cause.