The shootings have reignited debate over the increasing use of incendiary and often violent language in U.S. politics. Boehner faced criticism last year for saying that then-Rep. Steve Dreihaus (D-Ohio) "may be a dead man" because he voted in favor of President Obama's health-care overhaul. "He can't go home to the west side of Cincinnati," Boehner told The National Review.
Boehner later said the comments were meant figuratively to describe the political peril facing Dreihaus because of his health-care vote. But Dreihaus, who was defeated in November, sharply criticized Boehner and other Republican lawmakers for using stark and violent imagery in reference to their opponents.
"These comments that have been made by Republican leaders can serve as--I don't know if I want to say an excuse or perhaps permission for people who may be unbalanced, who may be calling with these threats," Dreihaus said in March 2010, adding: "It doesn't really matter the way you meant it, nor the way I accept it. It's how the least sane person in my district accepts it."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/01/john-boehner-decries-attacks-i.html?hpid=topnews