[Steve_Seattle]

I spent much of the last week in an email debate with my sister and a friend of hers, both of whom work for the Seattle Times. The friend is a columnist and member of the editorial board, and she was one of the first to try to link Palin to the Tucson shootings.

In addition to asking them to show any proof of such a connection, I also cited numerous instances of hateful liberal rhetoric, much of it directed at Palin, as well as all the "kill Bush" signs from the anti-war demonstrations.

But it all rolled off them like water off a duck's back. No argument, no fact, no assemblage of facts, could put a dent in their conviction that right-wing rhetoric somehow caused the shootings and that it is almost entirely right-wingers who use charged rhetoric. They are irrational.

[Kickass Conservative]

They are irrational, and they Vote.

I fear for the Republic.