Within two hours of the reporting of the Arizona shooting spree, while the victims were still bleeding, suffering and dying, a surprising number of political bloggers and commentators leaped on to the Internet to attribute blame for the crime.

Before the identity of the suspect was known, before any law- enforcement agent or agency made a statement concerning a possible motive for the attack, these learned men and women were typing away.

A moderate Democratic congresswoman had been shot at a “meet and greet” in front of a Tucson supermarket — a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were among the dead — and the culprit, according to these people, was America’s “climate of hate,” as created by the Grand Old Party.

These brilliant and allegedly thoughtful men and women saw the carnage, put two and two together and got Sarah Palin.

My print column is up.