re: #7 Dark_Falcon

It’s not ‘ignorance’ that drove Christie to yell at that teacher; For a Republican governor of any state those teachers not expressly on your side are the enemy, politically. The unions those teachers belong will endorse the Democrat in the governor’s race no matter what the Republican says or does, so the Republican has no incentive to keep an open mind when a teacher asks them a question. The best tactic for the Republican is to either attack or deliver a canned response. Trying to deliver a thinking response risks the candidate producing a sound byte that can be used for a Democratic ‘Gotcha!’ ad. Better to stick to the script.

What kind of answer is that? Are you a robot?

Should Republicans adopt the same attitude towards black or gay questioners, since most of them vote Dem?

Maybe Dems should refuse to answer questions from white middle aged men, since they vote heavily gop.

Do you see how this kind of calculation makes things even worse? What you suggest would futher diminish what little dialogue there currently is. There’s clearly a huge cultural chasm in the nation. It’s growing, as the US grows and further diversifies. The tactics you support would only serve to make things worse.