The Coming American Civil War heats up

The insane hatred and violent rhetoric of the American Right explodes into violence again.

Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, was shot today at a public event outside a grocery store.

A spokesman for the Pima County sheriff says that at least 12 people were shot. The Tucson Citizen reports that Rep. Giffords was "shot point blank in the head."

Rep. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was first elected to the House in 2006. She represents the state's 8th Congressional District.

This is what happens when healthy partisanship mutates into a relentless drumbeat of ideological eliminationism.

UPDATE: Sarah Palin literally put a cross-hairs target on Congresswoman Giffords head.