Did Sarah Palin or Another Right-Wing Activist Provoke Loughner?

In the aftermath of the shooting in Tucson, Twitter and Facebook users spread a link to the Sarah Palin PAC website, which seemed to reveal a map with a target above Gabrielle Giffords's district. Palin's supporters denied that the graphic featured a crosshair but the entire page was soon taken down. Left-wing blogs speculate that, regardless of whether the shooter actually visited Palin's website, the image still contributed to what they termed a "culture of hate," paving the way for the assassination attempt.