Arizona Congresswoman Shot At Town Meeting

To begin the day on which Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, was shot in the head at point-blank range -- by a guy carrying enough firepower to shoot roughly a dozen others (before courageous citizens wrestled him to the ground), most likely targeted for the offense of being neither a bigot, a xenophobe nor a gun nut -- this is the cartoon that a prominent right-wing website featured.

So long as the Republican Party -- once a force for fiscal restraint, competence and tolerance -- is the home of bigots, religious kooks, gun nuts, warmongers and low-grade populists, politics in our nation will suffer. Lathering up the lamentable likes of Richard Poplawski, Byron Williams, Scott Roeder, and the would-be assassin of Gabrielle Giffords is shameful and predictably dangerous.

Devote a kind thought to Congresswoman Giffords and her colleagues and, if you are a conservative or a Republican, resolve to reclaim your side for reason.