Is it just me, or is this amazingly tacky and tone-deaf? Whether they like it or not, the Tea Party certainly has turned up the heat with inflammatory rhetoric in Arizona, and it's incredibly tasteless to use the Tucson shootings to say "Oh, poor us!":

The Tea Party Express, a California-based conservative political action committee, sent out a letter to supporters Monday requesting donations in reaction to Saturday’s shooting at a political event in Tucson, Arizona that claimed six lives.

“It is quite clear that liberals are trying to exploit this shooting for their own political benefit, and they used deception and dishonesty to try and smear all of us and our beliefs,” the letter reads. “You know what the truth is? The truth is that the shooter, Jared Loughner is the one responsible for this atrocity. But liberals are trying to place the blame on society for embracing the tea party movement.”

The letter makes the case that the Tea Party movement has nothing to do with the alleged gunman, 22-year-old Jared Loughner. The weekend shooting sparked accusations from liberal groups and pundits that he was motivated by the rhetoric from Tea Party members, although authorities say Loughner acted alone and was not part of a larger movement.

“We have nothing to do with this awful, tragic event in Arizona,” the letter reads.

The group, which helped fund the Republican primary campaigns of Joe Miller in Alaska, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada, ended the letter with a request for donations.

“We’re taking our country back through the ballot box and in the public square – through peaceful means,” the letter reads. “And we will prevail, because our ideas and ideals are stronger than the scare/smear/defame tactics of the leftists we face. We ask you to please stand with the Tea Party Express and show your support for our efforts. You can make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express – CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.”