Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in defense of Sarah Palin’s use of this “crosshairs map” for “targeting” Democrats and for fundraising purposes for the Republican Party, on March 25, 2010. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot yesterday was on the map, and several of the other Democrats also received threats. McCain also defends Palin’s corresponding Twitter comment: “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: ‘Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!’”
“I have seen the rhetoric of targeted districts as long as I’ve been in politics,” he replied. “Please. This is — any threat of violence is terrible, but to say that there is a targeted district or that we ‘reload’ or go back in to the fight again, please…Those are fine. They’re used all the time.”
“Those words have been used throughout of my political career,” McCain added. “There are targeted districts, and there are areas that we call battleground states, and so please, that rhetoric and kind of language is just part of the political lexicon. There is no place for threats of violence or anything else, but to say that someone is in a battleground state is not originated today.”
“Maybe it has (caused concern), and we condemn any violence, any threats of violence,” responded McCain. “But I’ve heard all of that language throughout my political career.”
