An assassination attempt just misses - nine dead, more wounded, the main target barely clinging to life - and somehow, we can't just come out and say we have a problem in this country with the way we talk about politics.
Howie Kurtz does the usual hand-wringing, and I've heard some others soaking up large quantities of valuable airtime angsting about whether or not this kind of act can be attributed to the rhetorical recklessness of politicians and pundits. And in the end, they say nothing. They all "have to leave it there" after deciding nothing; all we come away with is that it was yet another senseless tragedy of our times, and that "gosh, I hope it wasn't something we said."
Look guys, words have meaning. Politicians and commentators say the things they say for a reason. They put words together in ways that are intended to prompt people to take some action. Your actual intention may be simply to get people up off their asses to go out and vote. But when you use the imagery of violence to get them to go out and do something, you don't get to sit back being surprised when somebody decides to take your words at face value. In an obviously important way, this Loughner asshole did exactly what he heard Palin or Angle or any number of others say they wanted him to do.
For the most part, this lies squarely at the feet of the Repubs. They own it; and I think they know it.
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