“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't so bad as that,” or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if allowed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black.”

Side bets on if RINO is understood in the Netherlands?

True. Sadly, it only works on a certain kind of person. I tried to be rational with my brother, step father, and other family members, but they all think Obama's a “pinko commie socialist anti-american a-hole” (i'm in Texas, so it's expected). Likewise, my liberal friends are screaming the HuffPo / Daily Kos / Michael Moore “Fascist” matras.

It's extremely hard for people to change.

We can disagree without being disagreeable to quote Obama. Both parties can spawn good ideas and bad, those of us in the middle need to focus on results.

Lotus I agree it can be depressing but only if we choose to let it continue unabated.

I don't know as we can lay this all at the feet of talk radio although some culpability could, I suppose be laid there. Talk radio was not around during Viet Nam when the lines were drawn between the “Love It or Leave It” crowd and the hippies. To say that it is “talk radios fault” ignores history. This attitude is more human nature than anything else – we all want our side to “win” and the other side to lose – heck you can see a variation of this any given Saturday or Sunday during the football season.

It all boils down to our attitude about the other side. If you go around after an election that your guy lost with a “Not My President” bumper sticker on your car, odds are you are not going to treat anyone from that side with any respect. If you go around with a “My Country Love It Or Leave It” bumper sticker odds are that you are not going to treat the other side with any respect at all.

Instead of making excuses we all need to start changing our own attitudes first. It's surprising how quickly others will follow.

LL

But I don't mind the repercussions and embarrassment that happen when a party labels the opposing candidate (and thereby supporters) as “anti-American,” or “terrorist supporting,” or “soft on crime,” or “non-supportive of the troops” –the list goes on. And I don't mind when main-stream media does the work, but am thankful for YouTube documentation as well. It's a lot more difficult to be “misunderstood” when you're documented on tape in the expanded context.

I will applaud the day when someone who questions another person's “patriotism” or “love of country” will be called on the carpet. I've been sick of it for the last 8 years and I hope it comes back to the perpetrators in a landslide. Civil Discourse can evolve when demonization becomes a liability.

I saw something on Sean Hannity's forum the other day:

“In other words…'The arguments in this thread are expanding outside of the talking points I'm spewing. I'll come back later after I've regrouped and been told how to respond. Or, if there is no good answer, I'll just continue to ignore any points contradictory to my original point.' “

I miss WFB's way of doing things..

20 yrs of that stuff, 10's of millions of people convinced that the only balanced news comes from them. 'Course it's gonna happen.

It's an aggravating and trying experience because on one hand you're looking forward to exercising democracy and upholding a tradition of equality for all, and on the other hand you're losing faith in humanity due to the sheer seething hatred and idiocy of your fellow American. By the end of the election cycle, it is hard to argue that no one is out there trying to “ruin America” because often the candidates are suggesting just that about their opponents & their opponents' supporters, and ordinary folks are hoping their guy will put you and people like you in your proper place.

It is depressing.