An aide to Sarah Palin claims the crosshairs depicted in her now-infamous target list of Democrats were not actually gun-sights, and that it's "obscene" and "appalling" to blame Palin for the shooting. "We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights."
So what were they if they weren't crosshairs? They were "surveyor marks," says Palin's spokesperson, "like you'd see on maps."
Palin has been getting grief about those crosshairs since that map was released more than a year ago. Good of her to make a clarification now. I'm sure the family of the dead little girl appreciates it.
UPDATE: So it wasn't a cartographical metaphor after all—Palin isn't exactly famous for her map-making metaphors, is she?—at least not according to a Palin tweet from two months ago. Via Slog commenter Mike in Olympia:
How do you know when Palin's lying? When her lips are moving, when she's Tweeting, when she's posting bullshit to her Facebook page; when her spokesperson is speaking; when Todd opens his mouth; when her kids open their mouths, etc., etc., etc. The woman lies in her sleep.
