OK, I am a liberal (despite what some may think.) I can admit I despise Palin, however, I do think that we, as liberals, are unwittingly feeding her ego by making her point-woman for the far right. Do I believe she has used tasteless and violent imagery, yes. Do I believe she wanted Giffords to be shot, no. I think the problem comes in that she enables people who have used much nastier imagery to slide under the radar, both by legitimizing them, but also because we liberals focus so much on her, we do not focus on clearer targets.
Want some examples, ok. Gifford's opponent used "targets" of his opponent and encouraged people to fire m-16 ammo.
http://firedoglake.com/2011/01/08/giffords-opponent-jesse-kelly-held-june-event-to-shoot-a-fully-automatic-m16-to-get-on-target-and-remove-gabrielle-giffords/And of course, wel all know about "second-amendment remedies."
http://www.marconews.com/blogs/he-is-that-guy/2011/jan/08/palinangle/Now, this imagery is OT subjective. They cannot say "but but but, you use cross-hairs too!" But of course, these folks lost elections, so we focus on a person who is NOT EVEN IN OFFICE, yet because she gets under our skin, still gets to determine the tenor of the discussion!
So, we need to take the focus off Sarah P., and onto the many people whose actions are so blatant that even Joe GOP cannot offer an explanation; Heaven knows we have the ammunition, because Hell makes sure the GOP keeps making it. We need to focus on groups, because groups cannot be brushed aside as "oh, it's only one bad apple", no it is not, the tree is rotten to the roots!