Are the Republicans inciting actual violence against Obama?

They did it before, during the campaign. It got so bad that the Secret Service had to start investigating Sarah Palin rallies. Now the Republicans are doing it again. The Republicans are stirring up what remains of their base - the craziest, angriest, most extremist elements of the far right - and they're trying to convince them that the big bad black man is trying to turn their country into Nazi Germany. Those aren't just fighting words, as this guest points out on Rachel Maddow's show, they're words that can incite extremists to violence.

And if the Democrats had any experience in actually fighting back - had any desire to do so - they'd perhaps pick up on this theme and run with it. The media would probably be quite interested in the question of whether the Republicans are inciting violence against their political opponents, including President Obama. And it would be a great way to move the coverage from "anger explodes over Dem health care plan" to "have the Republicans gone too far?"

Or how about just running TV ads showing Obama and Hitler and asking: "Is this the kind of talk you voted for?"