SPT reports the news about the insidious effect of coarse partisan debate

From "Arizona shooting prompts soul-searching in Congress":

The debate over health care over the past year spawned some of the hardest feelings, with mass protests outside the Capitol, displays of firearms at political rallies, heated words at town hall meetings and threats of violence against lawmakers, including Giffords.

The shooting in Arizona made it clear that those threats are not to be taken lightly.

The first three examples in the list are throwaways, no?

• Mass protests outside the Capitol

So what else is new?  Mass protests outside the Capitol building occur often.

• displays of firearms at political rallies

We're talking about political rallies addressing health care, right?  Because if we're talking about political rallies by, say, the tea party where gun rights are one of a number of live issues then the context of the displays of firearms makes a big difference.

• heated words at town hall meetings

Oooh!  Scary!  Give me a break.

Only the last on the list--threats of violence against lawmakers--is serious, and it has always been taken seriously.  As a result, the next graph about taking threats seriously is another throwaway.

The news story (please let it be a column or news analysis!) feeds into the groundless lefty meme that aforementioned political behavior led Gifford's attacker to act as he did.