Inflammatory speech by public officials leads to violence. We know that's true from the influence Glenn Beck had on the San Francisco highway shooter Byron Williams and the influence Bill O'Reilly had on Scott Roeder, who murdered the abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.

Now we have the tragedy in Arizona, where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others have been shot while attending a public meeting with constituents.

The shooter was Jared Lee Loughner. His YouTube videos (available through the Huffington Post; cited above) may seem unhinged, but Loughner's rhetoric involves...

•Creating a new currency
•Not having to accept "federalist laws"
•Studying the Constitution "to apprehend all of the current treasonous laws"
•Not trusting the current government

Those are all right-wing, Teabagging themes – nurtured by a right-wing culture in which Sarah Palin and her political action committee felt free to distribute a hit list of political opponents. Gabrielle Giffords appeared on that list.

A copy of Palin's hit list is included above. Reproduced below are two tweets from earlier today containing useful information about Palin's activities.

As details of this tragedy emerge, the question is not whether a cause-and-effect relationship exists between Sarah Palin and Jared Loughner. The issue is whether we will condemn the eliminationist rhetoric that the Teabaggers have traded in since day-one of their bullying shout-downs at Congressional healthcare forums.

Teabagging