There are many reasons to decry the polarization of our public debate, but to me the most insidious aspect of it, at least in my estimation would be the further entrenchment of the opposition as enemy.
I state this fairly often it seems nowadays, it is not just that two sides disagree, it is more personal. It is not only do we disagree, but you are wrong, and more fundamental, there is something wrong with you because you do not agree with me.
This phenomena seems to be at or near a fever pitch now and I am not going to equivocate on the issue. The left and the right are not equal. Not anything near that. The vitriol and venom being spewed on the right is both more voluminous and more virulent then what has been coming from the left. Even at the height of the Bush presidency, the type of rhetoric espoused by those on the left was less acerbic. Yes there were outliers, but what major media outlets actually ran major stories on Bush's supposed ties to the bin Laden family, or organized protests versus the sitting administration?
Instead we see from the right these sorts of comments.
Steele calls Friedman a "nut-job"
Or the far more provocative from John L. Perry: Obama Risks a Domestic Military "Intervention" (TPM for the coverage since it was pulled down from Newsmax).
I have two questions. Why is it when a non-right leaning administration comes to power the right goes absolutely apoplectic? And why do we tolerate this?
I am sure, most people would blame the Internets for this, but I look squarely at Fox News and talk radio as the prime culprits. More so then any other medium, they provide the a megaphone for the fever swamp that the republican party and it's base have become.
So I agree with Steve Benen on both the critique and the substance that Friedman wrote about.
-Cheers
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