While I will not say that the McCain/Palin ticket is in any way directly responsible for this, the tone of their campaign over the last month has certainly done nothing to lessen the tension.
That being said, tolerating the kind of hateful rhetoric spewed forth by their supporters allows it to fester. I do not need to repeat some of the things I am sure you all have already heard.
I hope this is a wake up call for McCain, but I will probably be proven wrong. We will continue to see robocalls, ads and interviews which basically tell us that Obama is dangerous for America, none of us can act surprised at the result of this campaign of hatred and fear.
story can be found at www.msnbc.com
UPDATE - According to CNN this "plot" was limited to two men, the details that are coming out do not make it sound very sophisticated but it is disturbing news none the less.
Words do matter. While the McCain campaign may not be going around saying "kill Obama" they are suggesting that he is dangerous and mysterious. Honestly when you go around saying he "pals around with terrorists" what exactly do you expect people to think? The logical path is to conclude that he is at best a terrorist sympathizer and at worst is a terrorist.
When the mantra of the McCain campaign for the last month has been "who is the real Obama", when the campaign has called him a socialist, a communist, when its supporters have implied that he is a Muslim or in some way similar to Hitler can they really act surprised when people shout what they do at their rallies or contemplate an assassination attempt?
I think it is too late for McCain to learn or change his campaign this year. We can only hope that this serves as a model for the future, as a lesson stating that when you campaign on a platform of hate and fear, in a way, everyone loses.