A reminder to lefties who want to blame harsh rhetoric used by Republicans on the shooting Arizona: The leader of your party had no problem using tough rhetoric, either.

Channeling the mob drama, “The Untouchables,” Mr. Obama said in reference to the general election rumble with the Republicans: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”

That’s from the New York Times.

If people like Sarah Palin are responsible because she used words like “target”, is Barack Obama not also responsible for talking about bringing guns to fights? Surely there were less violent metaphors he could have used. Instead, he talked about guns and knives in fights.

Do I blame Barack Obama for yesterday’s tragedy? Of course not. His words were clearly a metaphor. But the same applies to Sarah Palin’s rhetoric. That hasn’t stopped many lefties from blaming people like Palin for the actions of one crazy individual who, incidentally, listed “The Communist Manifesto” as one of his favorite books.

Update: James Joyner also takes on the left’s attack on “crosshair” graphics, pointing out that Democrats have repeatedly used the same terms and graphics.