On the Shooting of Opposition Candidates

Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz happens to be one of Gabby Giffords' closest colleagues in the House of Representatives. While she hasn't yet been targeted with actual bullets, she has faced the same kind angry rhetoric Republican whack jobs have been hurling about from coast-to-coast for what seems like years now.

In a little known and until now scarcely remembered story from 2009, Wasserman-Schultz's Tea Party opponent held a rally at a shooting range and encouraged supporters to take potshots at targets with her initials ["DWS"] on them.

The headline for the story in the Sun Sentinel reads: Broward Republicans Go Gunning.

These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broad political strategy aimed (pun intended, quite literally) at fomenting anger and rage against Democratic candidates. It's enough to drive a crazy person right over the edge.

Now don't all those falsely equivalent claims that "both sides do it" sound just a bit hollow? Doesn't Sarah Palin's claim that the "gunsight" over Gabby Giffords' congressional district was actually a "surveyor's symbol" sound like so much CYA bullshit?

Up until someone dies, the cooler heads have always said, "This has to stop, before someone dies." Now someone has six people have. How we respond will say a lot about which direction we are headed.