[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

I don't think anyone in this thread has said with certainty that the shootings were politically motivated, only that it's a possible cause. In particular, it's not much of a stretch to think that someone who was already mentally unhinged might have been influenced by extremist right-wing rhetoric from the likes of Sarah Palin calling on "American patriots" to "reload" and "take aim" at Rep. Giffords and other Democrats.

Now obviously Palin was not calling for political assassinations, and no reasonable person would think that. Unfortunately, people who go on shooting sprees are not reasonable people, so there's a chance they may take her words literally. Is that what happened here? We don't know yet. Is it conceivable and worthy of discussion that this could potentially be the motive for the muders? Absolutely.

Completely agree.

You did miss a couple of folks who used words like 'surely' to describe that the motivation was political. There were some much more forceful with it than you.