When hate speech is cloaked in politics

[Commentary] Talk matters. It isn't cheap. It shapes the way people think and the way they live their lives. This is why the language of hate and personal vilification that now pervades the rhetoric of the American right is so poisonous to our civic life.

It foments anger. It creates a sense of crisis that clouds rather than clarifies thoughtful debate. It increases polarization rather than moving people toward any hint of common ground. Were the actions of a clearly deranged Jared Loughner on Saturday in any way caused by the hate speech on talk radio or the rabid tea party campaign against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords last fall? We will never know. But the tragedy has shone a spotlight on poisoned rhetoric, and there is no defending it. Hate speech cloaked in politics and combined with violent imagery has to stop.