Quote of the day - (I hate it When Ezra Klein is Right)

Ezra Klein, discussing an idiotic, plainly illegal action before the Wyoming State Legislature, said this (emphasis added):

Given the extremism of the rhetoric at the top {of the Republican Party - JzB}, is it any wonder that there is incredible fear trickling down to the grass roots? If those are the stakes, then of course criminalizing any implementation of the bill makes sense. Frankly, if those are the stakes, then violent resistance might be required. 

Those aren't the stakes, of course. They're just the words. And words slip sometimes. Things come out too angry, or too quickly, or too sharply. I've had my share of experience with this. But words matter. And the Republican Party hasn't been slipping up: It's been engaged in a concerted campaign to scare the population into opposing health-care reform. That may be good politics, but it can have bad consequences.

Ezra posted this on Friday morning.

The very next morning, 6 innocent people died, and 11 others were seriously injured in an attempt to assassinate Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a blue dog Democrat from Arizona who was placed in the cross hairs by Sarah Palin because she voted for Obamacare - a plan that is essentially Romneycare -- a plan that sensible Republicans would support.

Of course, there are no sensible Republicans.  Click through the link in Ezra's quote, above.

Which is a big part of why we are so screwed.

H/T to Krugman:

Just yesterday, Ezra Klein remarked that opposition to health reform was getting scary. Actually, it’s been scary for quite a while, in a way that already reminded many of us of the climate that preceded the Oklahoma City bombing.

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.

Nice thought Paul.. Don't hold your breath.

Update:

Predictably, the Palin camp and other right wingers are running from responsibility and making lame excuses.  Lame, lame, lame.

But SarahPAC staffer Rebecca Mansour, who has been tweeting in defense of her boss since the tragedy took place, is stating that the crosshairs were never intended to be gun sights. 

"We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights," she said in an interview with talk radio host Tammy Bruce Saturday. "It was simply crosshairs like you'd see on maps." Bruce suggested that they could, in fact, be seen as "surveyor's symbols." Mansour added that "it never occurred to us that anybody would consider it violent" and called any attempts to politicize the Arizona tragedy "repulsive."

The suggestion that the symbols were related to guns seemed to come, however, from Palin herself. On March 23, Palin tweeted to her supporters a note about the aforementioned Facebook message, writing, "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: 'Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!' Pls see my Facebook page." And as Politico's Jonathan Martin points out, in November Palin boasted about defeating 18 of the 20 members on her "bullseye" list.

Of the 20 districts targeted by Palin, Giffords and Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.V.) were the only two candidates to win over her PAC's chosen Republicans.

Update:   Surveyor's symbols.   Like the ones used by the Zodiac Killer.  H/T to Doc Amazing, commenting at LGM.

Not only lame, but a (Updated with a link:) flat-assed lie!

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