Nick, I can't imagine anyone having a problem with what you said. After all, you weren't "talking politics", you were talking about the lack of many people's ability to have a discussion about politics these days.
Maybe I'm naive, but I think we can have a conversation here about politics without pointing fingers at our opposition and crying "foul"!
I'm an Independent, which is easy here in NH. We are SO inundated come election time. For those of you in Ohio or Pennsylvania or Florida who know what it's like when your state becomes a pivot point...it's ALWAYS like that here. I've seen / met just about every candidate in the last 8 years, and I don't mean just at rally's. You literally run into them on the street or in a diner. When they become front-runners, they're surrounded by "their people" and Secret Service. But early on, you just see them as pretty much normal people. Last election cycle, Joyce and I met and talked a bit with Dennis Kucinich at the local mall. The mall was pretty much empty (there was a snowstorm) and it was no event.... he and an assistant were out looking for a gift for his wife for her birthday. The whole thing really gives you a good sense of who some of these people are BEFORE the whole thing gets overblown. It's like seeing a band in a club before they make it big.
I never used to be involved in politics until a decade or so ago. I've always voted, but would vote for a Democrat, Republican or Independent depending upon who I think the best person was... regardless of their affiliation. Unfortunately, I don't think that can be done anymore.
I will say that I voted for Obama partly because I really thought that he would be able to unify the country and end the widening divide between parties. I don't see this as his personal failure, but the divide has only gotten worse. I think, to be a citizen who is politically aware these days, you almost HAVE to choose a side, which sucks. When both sides are busy slinging mud instead of doing their job, we all lose. They're too worried about making the other side look bad and not worried enough about doing their own job correctly.
I'm really beginning to think the system is broken. Maybe a two-party system can't help but disintegrate into this with today's "all media, all the time" technology. Someone says something in Kansas and within and hour, there's a soundbite of a rebuttal in Washington and two hours later somebody is ranting about it on their talk show for their ratings. It's insane.
After the big vote, some bricks get thrown through some Democrat Reps' windows, and when it's reported, the Republicans say that it's only being reported to make the Republicans look bad and the Dems are doing it for their gain. This struck me as so obviously "blaming the victim", but then the Dems send out a letter saying "send $$ to our party" so we can fight the Republicans.
They're ALL asses, and they've BOTH spun it so far that the original story is forgotten.
It's like gangs fighting for turf who don't even know why they're fighting...except something bad was done to them last week, so this week they have to do something bad back to the other side.
I seriously wonder what would happen if we voted ALL the Reps out and brought in new reps that aren't carrying all these old grudges.... though I guess that's not possible because anyone qualified to do the job will have already been poisoned by the divisiveness.
I've backed away from politics quite a bit in the last year, mostly because I'm disgusted with it all, and if I follow it closer I'll end up pissed off off the time.
I truly fear for this country. NOT because I think we're turning Socialist but because BOTH sides are just failing to work to get things done, and I don't know how it will get fixed. Neither side is backing off the "If you don't do it my way, I'm taking my toys and going home" attitude.
F**king children.
Grow up, get over it, and do the job you were elected to do. THAT's how you keep your job.
