ALLAHU PALIN

When Nidal Malik Hasan murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in November 2009, he offered a loud clue about his motivation:

Eyewitnesses say suspected gunman Nidal Malik Hasan shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ or ‘God is great’ before opening fire …

The fact that Hassan reportedly shouted the above is meant, I suppose, to imply that he was an extremist fanatic. I’m not sure that it does. My understanding is that it’s something Arab people often shout before doing something or other. It’s used in many different situations.

Paul Krugman of the “New York Times” suggests darkly that Giffords was shot because she was “a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona” and “violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate” (those reponsible for such a climate being, of course, Republicans). TBogg of FireDogLake wades straight in and blames Sarah Palin for the shooting because of a graphic of crosshairs placed on the districts of moderate Democrats … Jane Fonda pins it on Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and the Tea Party.

Regardless of what led to the episode, it quickly focused attention on the degree to which inflammatory language, threats and implicit instigations to violence have become a steady undercurrent in the nation’s political culture.

Ms. Giffords was also among a group of Democratic House candidates featured on the Web site of Sarah Palin’s political action committee with cross hairs over their districts, a fact that disturbed Ms. Giffords at the time.

Last March, Ms Giffords was among 20 Democrats whose districts were marked on an internet campaign map with a gunsight's crosshairs as "targets" of mid-term elections of former Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The aftermath of electing the first African American president, coupled with a democratic sweeping wins in the US congress in 2008, created a conservative and right wing backlash that saw threats of violence, increase in extremist groups. Such an environment created a hateful atmosphere that culminated in the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords in Arizona.

Sarah Palin's infamous ''cross-hairs'' map from last year, which showed a series of contested congressional districts, including Giffords's, with gun targets trained on them.

Commentators pointed to an online map posted by Mrs Palin before the midterm congressional elections last year that used gun cross-hairs to mark the districts of 20 Democrats she wanted to defeat, along with Mrs Palin's frequent use of shooting metaphors on the campaign trail.

You don't have to believe that alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, is a card-carrying Tea Party member (he evidently is not) to see some kind of connection between [rightwing"> violent rhetoric and what happened in Arizona on Saturday … He went to considerable expense and trouble to shoot a high-profile Democrat, at point-blank range right through the brain. What else does one need to know?

Though the vigil was by no means a witch hunt for a culprit, some of the attendees – often when pressed by reporters – criticized Sarah Palin’s use of a diagram with crosshairs over certain Congressional districts that she saw as targets in the upcoming election.