Return of Alan Grayson: Ex-Congressman Blames Palin for AZ Shooting in Email to Supporters

If you thought his defeat in the 2010 midterm elections was the end of Alan Grayson's time in the limelight, think again.

The former Florida Democrat Progressive was back in the news Wednesday after a solicitation email to supporters placed blame for the recent shooting tragedy in Arizona squarely on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"When I opened my web browser yesterday, at yahoo.com, there was Sarah Palin, smiling at me," Grayson wrote. "'Oh God,' I said to myself, 'what has she done now. (sic)"

Reacting to Palin's defense of her "blood libel" video response to the Arizona massacre, Grayson wrote: "That's interesting, I thought. What else might Palin be defending? Cannibalism, maybe?"

Grayson then ran down a complete list of all the "threats" he's received in the past.

"Even before I heard earlier Palin's whining about 'misguided finger-pointing' and 'irresponsible statements from people who are apportioning blame,' I thought about this: Palin came to my district, and told her people to 'take me out.' Palin told people again and again, 'don't retreat, reload,'" he wrote.

Grayson also claimed one of his five-year old twins "received a telephone death threat intended for me" the day before last year's health care vote.

"A right-wing commentator offered anyone $100 to punch me in the nose. We received so many threats of violence from tea baggers that we started a file," he continued. "And the day before Gabby was shot, I received a postcard saying 'you better get some personal protection. You could very well be getting your ass kicked soon.'"

A "stream of violence and threats of violence by the right wing against Democrats" he's observed on MSNBC was something that Rep. Giffords warned about and Palin "instigated," Grayson concluded.  "I think that Gabby said it best: 'We can't stand for this.' We have to stand against it.'"