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There's no evidence that Jared Loughner ever saw Sarah Palin's infamous "target" map placing Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Arizona district under the sight of a gun.

But the former Alaska governor is facing plenty of scrutiny over the image following Saturday's shooting rampage that left six dead and Giffords in critical condition.

Facebook marketing director Randi Zuckerberg told ABC News on Sunday that the top question on the hugely popular social networking site is, "Is Sarah Palin to blame?" (Via Business Insider).

Palin staffer Rebecca Mansour, responding to the media controversy, claimed that the target map was "never ever, ever intended to be gun sights."

However, Palin's own comments suggest otherwise.

On March 23—the day Palin posted a Facebook note with the map—she tweeted a link with the following message: "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!" Pls see my Facebook page." Slate's David Weigel noted that Palin used the line to rally supporters and also referred to the "bullseye" icon a few months after the original map was posted.

Numerous political and media figures have sounded off on Palin's image over the past 24 hours.

On CNN, Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin described the image as part of the "toxic rhetoric" in politics. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann said Saturday night that Palin needs to "repudiate her own part, however tangential, in amplifying violence and violent imagery in American politics" or be "dismissed from politics." (The Ticket's Holly Bailey has more on the political media blame game).

Still, not everyone in media agrees that heated rhetoric—whether from Palin or other leading figures in media and politics—had anything to do with Loughner's alleged actions on Saturday.

"For as long as I've been alive, crosshairs and bull's eyes have been an accepted part of the graphical lexicon when it comes to political debates," wrote Slate's Jack Shafer. "Such 'inflammatory' words as targeting, attacking, destroying, blasting, crushing, burying, knee-capping, and others have similarly guided political thought and action. Not once have the use of these images or the words tempted me or anybody else I know to kill."