The first thing I saw this morning, as I was surfing the cable channels, was the Today Show on NBC, airing some stupid attempt to make Sarah Palin responsible for the mass murder committed by Jared Lee Loughner in Tuscon, Arizona last Saturday.

Gimme a break.  I’ve had it up to here with this garbage.

Somehow, the Liberals are trying to link a campaign map with targeted cities on it to the acts of a psychopath.    And what’s even slimier is the fact that some of the good ol’ boys in the G.O.P. are using the Tuscon massacre as an opportunity to take their shots at her also.

Former Minnesota Tim Governor Tim Pawlenty backed Palin up…sort of:

There’s no indication at present that those cross hairs, Fox News, any particular commentator or show or set of remarks or person was a motivating factor in his thoughts.

When the Times asked him if he would have produced a similar map, Gov. Pawlenty said:

I wouldn’t have done it.

I’m sure Gov. Palin thanks you for your support, Governor.  Yikes.

Former White House Spokesman for George W. Bush and political pundit Ari Fleischer said:

At a time like this, what the nation wants more than anything else is for people to rise above the nonsense and the politics and to be gracious. There’s nothing like letting people see your heart, your emotion. Facebook and Twitter don’t convey emotion.

Ari, I guess you missed this e-mail that Gov. Palin sent Glenn Beck over the weekend that he read on his show yesterday:

Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence.

Not all of the Republicans have jumped on the Bash Palin Bandwagon. 

The former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), yesterday placed the blame on the media for pointing fingers at Palin and the Tea Party over their use of “targets” on Democrats.

This attack on Sarah Palin is outrageous. Give me a break. I’ve made my living in politics, and the word ‘targeting’ is not a new word in the political lexicon. That’s just something that is a normal term in how you are going to prioritize your political efforts.

I’ve never heard the Tea Party preaching violence; I’ve heard them preaching participation.

The London Daily Mail hit the nail squarely on the head when they wrote:

In short, did the killer Jared Loughner – who has a history of mental instability and has made a series of bizarre postings on the internet – go out looking to kill because political voices told him to?

Could the inflammatory ­language used by some Right-wing politicians – in ­particular, Sarah Palin – have encouraged the killer to act as he did?

That’s the question at the heart of a febrile political blame game that started even before the most basic details had emerged about the background and possible motivation of the gunman. Already it has drawn in politicians, commentators, police and even the families of the victims.

Gabrielle Giffords was a Democrat and much – but not all – of the badly spelt, incoherent YouTube jumble that passed for the politics of her attacker was broadly ‘Right-wing’.

As a result, many liberal ­commentators and establishment figures have leapt at the opportunity to blame conservative politicians.

The rush to make political capital out of a mass shooting shows just how nasty U.S. ­politics has become. Under Barack Obama, America is more polarised than it has been for 40 years.

The Dems are ignoring their own history of violent rhetoric.  At a Philadelphia fundraiser on July 14th, 2008, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama said:

If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl.  I’ve seen Eagles fans.

As far as I know, a riot did not ensue in Philadelphia after those comments by Obama.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) released a statement defending a campaign ad last year in his which he shoots a bullet through the Democratic cap-and-trade bill.

The act of a deranged madman who commits a horrific act should not and cannot be confused with a metaphor about a piece of legislation. I have never targeted an individual, and I never would.

Neither would Gov. Palin, Joe.  However, that did not stop your party, their Media Minions, and even some of the Republican Elite in attempting to make political hay out of the Tuscon Massacre before they even knew the background and ideology of Jared Lee Loughner.

All these political opportunists knew was that this was their opportunity to get back at Palin and the rest of the resurgent Conservative movement, including Tea Party members, for throwing their fellow professional politicians out of office. 

The fact that Americans were killed, including precious little 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, did not matter to the ideologically-driven politicians, media pundits, or basement-dwelling bloggers. 

And more’s the pity.