I firmly believe that this whole ****storm regarding blame falls squarely on the shoulders of that incompetent, unproffesional sheriff. The main difference between Ft Hood and this situation is that when Ft Hood happened, we had Generals and army officials who we would consider to be "in the know" regarding the circumstances and possible motivations urging caution.
With this example, we have this asshole sheriff, whom one would consider to be "in the know" regarding the circumstances and possible motivations talking about how the rhetoric is to blame for the situation. It is not unreasonable to take his statements as being somewhat authoritative and actually based on what was learned from the shooter who was in custody. Then he admits that he just made it all up because he's a ****ing douchebag. At that point, people who jumped on it should admit their error in believing this douche and stop pushing the agenda crap.
Now, If Barney Fife had come out urging caution instead of jumping to conclusions and making it seem as though he had learned this based on the investigation, I don't think this would have spiraled out of control as it has.
Now, I do believe that there should be a discussion about the type of rhetoric being employed by both sides, and that toning it down would be benficial to the nation as a whole, but as this has progressed, I do see that this is not the correct time or climate for such a discussion because it's ending up way to one-sided with the liberals pretending to be above the fray (as though the **** said about Bush wasn't absurdly out of line).