Giffords was 'troubled' by Palin crosshairs

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was "troubled" by a crosshairs chart that appeared on Sarah Palin's Facebook page, showing the congresswoman a target.

"She was troubled that her district was one of twenty targeted on Sarah Palin's Facebook page and website," Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, writes in their book "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope."

Kelly recounts that Giffords' told him that "Palin's rhetoric had no place in political discourse." "It sends the wrong messages," he recalls Giffords saying. "It's a dangerous thing to do."

In March 2010, Palin posted a map lawmakers she wanted targeted in the election, one of which was Giffords. The map featured crosshair images on those districts.

Kelly points out that after Giffords voted for the Democrats' healthcare legislation that year, someone shot out the glass door and side window of her office and that her staffers "feared for their safety."

After Giffords' was injured in the Jan. 8th shooting in Tucson, Ariz., Kelly writes that Palin's "rhetoric came quickly into my head." He notes that when President Obama called to express his condolences, "I told him Gabby and I had found Palin's website troubling." He admits he "vented" to Obama about his frustrations and that the president listened to his complaints without "commenting on them directly."

Kelly admits "I don't know if the shooter in Tucson even looked at Sarah Palin's website" but he notes politicians "need to tone it down, speak more respectfully."

He writes that Palin, who was contemplating a presidential bid at the time, never called although he was told by Palin adviser John Coale that "Sarah and her husband, Todd, were 'devastated' by the tragedy."

Palin, at the time, posted a note on her Facebook page: "My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice," she wrote.

But Kelly writes: "I thought Sarah Palin might call to say she wished Gabby well and that she was praying for her and the other victims. We heard from many Republicans offering heart-felt messages. Given that a lot of the discussion in the wake of the shooting had singled out Palin, I expected she might also want to clear the air."

He even imagined what he would say to Palin, writing he planned to "graciously accept her words of consolation" and then add his own thoughts: "'You are not responsible,' I planned to tell Sarah Palin, 'But you are irresponsible.'"

But "she never called," he notes.

Kelly and Giffords' book was released Tuesday.

---