A time capsule from Reason TV that’s way, way shorter than it could have been. I assume the video editor planned something longer but had to stop after two minutes from his sheer soul-crushing despair at the state of American punditry. Or maybe his mistake was limiting himself exclusively to video material. For instance, by doing that, he had to omit this useful example of “civility” from Loughner victim turned leftist hero turned death-threat suspect Eric Fuller:

James Eric Fuller, 63, who was shot in the knee, had told The Post on Friday, the day before his arrest, that top Republican figures should be tortured — and their ears severed.

“There would be torture and then an ear necklace, with [Minnesota US Rep.] Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin’s ears toward the end, because they’re small, female ears, and then Limbaugh, Hannity and the biggest ears of all, Cheney’s, in the center,” Fuller said.

Hey, we can’t blame an entire ideology for the actions of a man who was clearly under extreme psychological stress. Unless of course that man is Jared Loughner, whose motives are still indecipherable to the feds after interviewing fully 300 of his friends and acquaintances.

If nothing else good comes from all of this, at least we know now that crosshairs symbols are totally verboten in political discourse, no matter how transparently metaphorical and nonviolent their usage. Or are they?