AZ Congresswoman Attacked By Lunatic, Hospitalized. Is There a Palin Connection?

Tragedy struck in AZ today.

Gabrielle Giffords, Democratic Congresswoman and health care reform was shot at a supermarket meet-and-greet she was holding in order to talk about local issues with her constituents.  She was attacked by 22-year old who shot and injured 12 others.

We still don't know why Jared Loughner attacked her, but theories and suspicions abound-- such as the fact that Sarah Palin listed her as a "targeted" politician.  SarahPAC, her political action committee, released a disturbing graphic with gun sights over the states of the targeted congresspeople-- identifying the individuals to be unseated and, some say, inadvertently inciting violence against them.

"It's impossible to know this early what the motivations for the attack were. Was the alleged shooter — who, according to the AP, has been identified as man in his 20s named Jared Loughner — angry about immigration? Or perhaps another hot-button issue? Last March, at the height of the health care reform battle, Giffords' office was vandalized. She mentioned in an MSNBC interview that a Sarah Palin mailer had depicted her district in the crosshair of a gun sight. 'They've got to realize there are consequences to that,' she said. 'The rhetoric is incredibly heated.' The corner next to her office had also become, she said, a popular spot for Tea Party protests."

Her objections are almost eerie considering what happened today.

I hope that Mr. Loughner didn't attack her based on some sick idea derived from irresponsible politics.  When are these Tea Bagger rifle-toting loons going to realize that they are using terrorist imagery and rhetoric-- that people like Sarah Palin aren't using the brains God gave them, instead relying on disgusting, vicious graphics like the one below?

In these times, when we have politicians threatening "second-amendment solutions," can we really afford to be this irresponsible?

I've changed my mind.  I wanted Sarah Palin to run for President-- easy win for the left, isn't it?  However, if she is going to use her spotlight to endanger her opponents like this, we really can't afford her to run.  Unfortunately, we might not have a choice-- she has decided to cancel her own reality show in order to organize for a 2012 run for the highest office in the land.

I miss it when she was just the governor of Alaska.

[Time.com]

UPDATE:  Rep. Gifford's surgeon is optimistic about her recovery, and President Obama responds to the attack. 





UPDATE:  The following image is the attacker.

He also has a YouTube channel-- and boy howdy, is it CRAZY.  His videos are haunting and display a twisted pathology.  My psych geek friend had this to say:

"Language analysis suggests disorganized thought disorder, but at the same time he's created some kind of incoherent cypher that indicates that there's something at work in his brain."

I agreed.  He clearly can reason-- there is a logical progression in his statements-- but they are just such fucking CRAZY statements.  Click to get spooked:




UPDATE:  Palin has taken down her "crosshairs" graphic.  Either a) she realizes she did something awful or b) she's trying to hide it.  I can't wait to see what she has to say about today's attack.  Brace yourself for some bullshit, friends.