Hello Bob,
I think the hatred of many conservatives toward entire swaths of the American electorate (i.e. gays, ethnic and religious minorities, women), a hatred often translated into policy proposals on the legislative floors of the Capitol, far outweighs the petty vitriol exchanged between elite, intellectual types in the two political parties.
But even on that front, to note the supposed hatefulness of the Democrats while ignoring the venom spewed out by many Republicans strikes me as a selective assessment of the facts. It was Newt Gingrich, not Richard Gephardt, who instructed his cronies to call Democrats "traitors" and "anti-family" and a whole host of other nasty names. And who really cares what Alec Baldwin says during some unfunny skit on a second-rate late-night television show? Sen. Jesse Helms implicitly warned Clinton of bodily harm should the president visit North Carolina. The threat prompted a Secret Service investigation.
On this thread, both sides have thrown nasty insults at each other. But the one guy whose rhetorical vitriol far exceeds anyone else's in the hate department is Johannes Pilch, a religious conservative who has all but labelled homosexuals subhuman, called Americans "whores" and the liberals here "filthy sodomites." Not once, in my recollection, has any conservative taken him to task on his unconcealed hatred of homosexuals, mainstream American opinion, or liberals. Meanwhile when LesX, the founder of this thread, advocated violence against Republicans, all the left-of-center types joined together in condemning his hateful rhetoric.
Kind regards,
Borzou |
