Gabby Giffords was clearly a very courageous woman talking with MSNBC so calmly after her office was vandalized after her health care reform vote, in March of 2010:

GIFFORDS:   Community leaders, figures in our community need to say “look, we can’t stand for this.”  This is a situation where — people don’t — they really need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up and, you know, even things, for example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list. But the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district.  And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action.

TODD:  But in fairness, campaign rhetoric and war rhetoric have been interchangeable for years.  And so that’s — is there not, is there a line here?  I understand that in the oment it may look bad, but do you really think that’s what she intended?

GIFFORDS:  You know, I can’t say, I’m not Sarah Palin.  But I can say that in the years that some of my colleagues have served — 20, 30 years — they’ve never seen it like this.

And note Chuck Todd’s idiotic “defense” that campaign rhetoric has borrowed from war rhetoric over the years. Giffords brushes him off, noting it’s much worse now than it ever has been. Care to walk that defense back now, Mr. Todd?

h/t Kateoplis