re: #272 Mattand

I agree about the need for honest debate and I’d throw compromise in there too.

I live in a REALLY conservative place. I knew that before moving here.I could also actually talk to the conservatives here before 9/11 and we could often reach agreement on certain things(like education for example),have a respectful conversation.it makes me sad that it’s a rare thing when that happens now. How can things move forward if we can’t talk things out?

It wasn’t 3 months after 9/11 and the local GOP started in with the most nasty and insulting nonsense I’ve ever come across. Remember those horrendous Max Cleland ads that Saxby Chambliss’ campaign ran? That was just one thing,there were lots more. Every business had FOX news blaring 24/7. Conservative talk radio began telling everyone liberals were the real terrorists. I saw bumper stickers that were “Liberal Hunting Licence”s. Other ones with Nancy Pelosi with bullet holes in her head. And then if your neighbors knew you were liberal they stopped talking to you. They wouldn’t let their kid play with yours. The birthday party invites stopped,they wouldn’t take your calls. Because of fear being stoked by assholes who care about nothing more than winning politically. By pastors and ministers and priests in the churches. Democrats didn’t start that shit,at least not where I live.

That’s the kind of stuff I have a hard time reconciling and I’m a pretty forgiving and reasonable human. Friends,neighbors and families have been driving apart by this bullshit and it really needs to stop. I just don’t know how to get there with assholes like Beck,Limbaugh and the goons at Fox having such a big influence. I blame the GOP leadership for letting it get this far. They could have done something about this early on and they chose not to,sometimes even joining in themselves.