Don't blame Sarah Palin for the Arizona shooting

I dislike Sarah Palin as much as the next gal, but I'm finding it hard to ascribe to her full, or even any, responsibility for Jared Lee Loughner's heinous actions at the weekend. After all, Loughner had turned out to meet Gabrielle Giffords in 2007, and kept a letter from her for all that time, so he'd clearly had a long-standing animus against the newly re-elected congresswoman. I do think, too, that Democrats were a bit quick off the mark in making political capital out of so much death and injury, whatever the rectitude of their arguments. Much human discourse is couched in violent terms, anyway, not just that of rightwing Republicans. Take this letter , sent in haste from Media Matters founder David Brock to Rupert Murdoch: "[Glenn] Beck and Palin are two of Fox's most recognisable figures. Before this heartbreaking tragedy in Arizona, you were either unwilling or unable to rein in their violent rhetoric. But now, in the wake of the killings, your network must take a stand. You have the power to order them to stop using violent rhetoric, on and off of Fox's air. If they fail to do so, it is incumbent upon you to fire them . . ." Or maybe just gently explain to them that there's been a bit of a re-structuring thing lately, and some difficult decisions have had to be taken . . .