SarahPAC: Open season on Blue Dogs

Less than a week after ex-Gov. Sarah Palin and her Fox News Channel colleague Glenn Beck publicly called for right-wing "fringe elements" to tone down violent rhetoric in their opposition of the federal government, Sarah Palin tweeted: "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: 'Don't Retreat, Instead -- RELOAD!' Pls see my Facebook page." People who traveled to Palin's Facebook page then found a call to action from her political action committee about races to "aim at" in upcoming House elections. This news is all over the Web now, but the note features a map studded with miniature crosshairs set up by a weaponized linguistic trope. Read the note on the ex-governor's Facebook page, here.

Interestingly, the blog "That's My Congress" notes that the majority of candidates on SarahPAC's target list are, in fact, not liberal Democrats at all -- they're conservative Democrats, so-called "Blue Dogs," known to side with their Republican colleagues in the House. A Gather.com commentator thinks that it's more a strategic mistake than it is a way for Palin to ingratiate herself with the GOP leadership, suggesting that if all the conservative House Democrats fall, it may "help restore progressive dominance" in the Democratic party and give it a new, combative spirit. Read more here.

Whatever SarahPAC's motivation for taking aim at conservative Democrats actually is, targeting them seems in sync with the former governor's apparent preference for a polarized theater of operations. After all, ya can't start an apocalyptic war in the electorate or Congress without having two totally pure opposing sides, now, can ya?