Alarming: The present mood in our country

Civility still exists, there's just been some sad displays of bad manners which stir others up and then hate follows.

The problem is that when there are enough uncivil people, civility ceases to exist. There may be civil PEOPLE, but civility itself is gone.

One's memory must be pretty selective to say it this way Leo. Rep Pelosi has done her bit to fan the flames with her comments and since no one seems to be backing down (on either side) with the name calling, there is no sincerity in these warnings from DC.

The rhetoric during the Bush years was as bad but from the Left and Reagan's days were pretty grim too. I notice despite the crocodile tears, no one is backing off in DC from forcing the issues causing the hullabaloo or even maybe starting afresh, so I doubt the "pleading" is more than another political ploy.

With Bush W And Reagan it took awhile for the people to see how rotten they'd been. Obama just gets it from the get-go.

So the Leftists took more time to disagree with those two. Many people saw Obama the same way but much sooner. The difference in rhetoric was more importantly non existent though

Sorry, your selective recall is tainted from the begining. From the initial invasion of Iraq the conservative, right winged and republicans labeled anyone not inagreement with the war Un American, Un Patriotic, communist, solialist and every fowl name one could think of. Were told ther was no way to support the troops if we didn't shupport the war. Even from the administration came an either you are with us or you are part of the problem. The historically unkind, uncaring, unfair name calling and outright vilifying of those not inagreement came from the right with even so called Christian. That sort of thinking seemed to escalate until it has reached this putrid level.

Of course it is Spencer because we don't agree. Making the blanket statement that all who supported the war called all those who were against it the litany you name is pretty selective in of itself.

Some did say such things and it became a mantra itself for Dems to say when they made statements that no one should question their patriotism. Not that you or many others seem to note it but that very same accusation is thrown now against anyone who questions Administration plans of any sort...that or racism.

Again though this name calling is not new, leftists/liberals said the same or worse against Repub administrations. Trying to make it seem new ignores history.

Why is it we can't even disagree properly? Reading my comment again still didn't show me saying all anyone were name callers. That type comment is often made by most but to satisfy your juices I will say "SOME" of those who were right winged, conservative, republican and so called Christian were very insulting in their outburst.

You interpret it as any opposition to Obama as us saying all inclusively you are racist. I have no trouble deciphering who is and is not racist by their own comments. Its those who skip what they said and dash straight to all wanting to identify any Obama opposers as racist. Skipping over any potential liability they might own in what they said is no excuse to accuse others of simply calling them racist for opposing Obama. that seems to be one of the favorite comments I see from Obama opposers. Refusing to own their own disdainful comments to lesson the blame.

"Not that you or many others seem to note it but that very same accusation is thrown now against anyone who questions Administration plans of any sort...that or racism."

Seems you made the same error you pointed out that I made. Lumping everyone in the same pile.

There is absolutely no comparison, Charles.

No comparison at all. People waited until Reagan and Bush actually proved that they did not deserve respect and then fought their policies. That does not compare in the least to people who have lied about President Obama in an effort to make others hate him and want to kill him. Get real.

Spencer, I'm not the one who said all those supporting the war downed the patriotism of those who didn't. I think what you wrote qualifies as a blanket statement. You do have a valid point though that I didn't qualify the racism statement. Not all Administration supporters say such a thing but it is increasingly the defense of many.

Sheryl, no comparison? Is that because this is a Dem administration and the two I mentioned were Repub? We just went through some very ugly years concerning political discourse in this nation and the differences now are that its directed at a Dem administration rather than a Repub one. The comparison is very apt.

Sandy, again you are forgetting the very ugliness of years of the opposition to Bush being just as ugly and threatening. While its convenient to pretend it didn't happen, it's not correct.

For some reason your first response just popped up Spencer.

I've never said there aren't racists out there who use opposition to the president as a cover for their racism. I don't think they are more than a minority though. We seldom agree politically but your comments are usually more forward than many on here and I don't remember you using that charge indiscriminately.

It'd be nice to agree on that at least, some on both sides are making this debate far more ugly than it has to be. Doesn't seem like that will happen though to judge by most of the comments on here.

This got very nasty very fast.

Extremely fast.

I'll agree though that it is nasty.

Not fast enough for you ???

Fox and Rush were very ready to pounce immediately, and did with great professional skill.

Let's never forget how John McCain and Sarah Palin promoted this. It makes me sick to see McCain getting "credit" for telling one woman, "No, he is not a Muslim, he is a good man." He said that only after weeks of promoting/condoning the violent rhetoric and the statement was insulting to all Muslims.

wE DON'T SEEM TO EVEN BE CIVIL TO ONE ANOTHER.
wE'VE GOOTA PUT THIS TRAIN BACK ON TRACK.

Won't happen anytime soon.

it is horrible how bad it has gotten. I pray it stops before violence becomes a norm.

Nancy Pelosi is pretty darn good at using those words herself... what a phony!

Not true, John. Nancy Pelosi is pretty darned good at pointing out the truth about policies and mistakes. She has never EVER promoted violence of any sort. Please, bring proof of that if you are going to accuse her.

Nancy Pelosi is a strong person, and it is interesting that she teared up. I share her sadness and fear.

The rhetoric started before the President was even elected. Right from the start the right-wing pundit hate-festers were turning up the dial with their Rev. Wright and birther talk. They hated Obama from the beginning. He wasn't saying anything different from Hillary and some of the other candidates - it was so obviously a racially motivated hate-fest, that anybody who denies that needs to take the Democratic candidates point by point and show conclusively that the other Democratic candidates were subjected to the same level of hate-speech as then-candidate Obama.

Anybody who claims that their hatred of this President is not at least partly due to the fact that they cannot stand that the highest office in our land is being held by an African-American is an outright liar. Anybody who claims that their hatred of Pelosi is not at least partly due to the fact that she is a woman holding one of the highest offices in our country is an outright liar. Anybody who claims that their hatred of Barney Franks is not at least partly due to the fact that he is a proud homosexual holding one of the most influential seats in Congress is an outright liar.

See a pattern here? Many right-wingers outwardly work against women's rights, homosexual rights and support white supremacy.

They will never admit it when directly confronted in this context, but go and review the comments on articles dealing with women's rights, especially the Feminist movement, homosexual rights, and equality among races, and you will see the truth of the right-wing. They are racists, mysogenists, and homophobes. They don't have any problem admitting that when it comes to dealing with the broader concepts, but will continually deny it when related to a real person. THEN they say it is only politics. Liars.

LOL, nicely done Sheryl. You managed that quite well. Racist, homo-phobes and misogynists! Did you forget anything?

The thing that interested me about Pelosi's remarks was that before Dan White's murders rhetoric in the Bay Area was much more temperate about gay rights than it is now about Obama. That doesn't mean that there wasn't a lot of anti-gay sentiment in the Bay Area then.

Seems to me that the present fad for screaming, yelling, spitting and making ridiculous accusations began with Clinton's presidency. He was accused of murder, among other things. It's become a standard tactic. It's an old tradition in American politics that comes and goes. There was anti-communism in the '50s. For many years after the Civil War politicians accused their opponents of being pro-Confederacy. It was called "waving the bloody shirt." It kept the Republicans in the White House almost uninterruptedly till Woodrow Wilson was elected.

On television I saw signs at the March on Washington such as these: "Armed and ready," "Bury Obamacare along with Kennedy," "Nazi." The scary right wing inciting hatred and violence!

Pelosi was in my state capital today for a fund raiser and the protesters carried signs "Nazi Pelosi" of course this is the GOP at its best. It seems that the only agenda the GOP has is spreading hate a dissent.

I totally agree with you. It is very alarming how hateful the rhetoric is becoming and we need to stop this nonsense. This is the featured post for comment as you please today.

Pelosi is just a fence sitter and looking for the biggest payoff. pelosi supported everyone of the Bush crimes including torture and she should already be on trial with her boss. Now that a democrat is in power she is throwing her feet on the other side of the fence but still sitting on the fence.

This is not true, Jack. Nancy Pelosi is one of my heroes because she was one of the few who had the strength to stand up against the Bush administration.

I may not often agree with Jack but he has principles. He points out the political whores of both parties.

Sandy when did Pelosi stand up against Bush? She was told about the totrture and war crimes and she kept supporting him. She stopped the debate on impeachment of Bush when the articles of impeachment were drawn up by Kucinich for war crimes and breaking more than 250 federal laws.

Pelosi only sucks up to Obama now because she thinks he is a sure win for her in her next election.

She stood up against him MANY times. She might have agreed with him a time or two (can't imagine) but she never "supported" him and she was not told about the torture and war crimes. She denies this and I have every reason to believe her since it fits with her actions at the time and no one has produced proof that she did know. She stopped the debate on impeachment because they didn't have the votes and other things needed more attention, not because she didn't agree.

"While Republicans publicly rallied around Mr. Bush, the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, unleashed some of her toughest criticism yet on the president. 'I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers,' Ms. Pelosi told reporters on Thursday. She later added: 'The emperor has no clothes. When are people going to face the reality? Pull this curtain back.'" May 21, 2004

PentaPost reports, "In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a broad critique of the Bush administration's foreign policy, restating her opposition to an attack against Iraq. 'I do not believe that going to war now is the best way to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction,' Pelosi said. 'Before going to war we must exhaust all alternatives, such as the continuation of inspections, diplomacy and the leverage provided by the threat of military action.' In her first major foreign policy address as Democratic leader, Pelosi suggested Bush has wasted the goodwill the United States received after Sept. 11, 2001. 'We cannot turn away from the network of alliances and international organizations that we have helped build,' she said."

"The Democratic Party lost an opportunity five months ago to avert the massive military buildup toward war against Iraq by failing to take a unified stand, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday. Pelosi, a California Democrat who voted against the October 2002 congressional resolution to back a possible U.S.-led war, told a foreign policy think tank [Council on Foreign Relations] that resident Bush 'is too far down the road and I don't think he's turning back. If the Democrats had spoken out more clearly in a unified vote five months ago in opposition to the resolution, if the people had gone onto the streets five months ago in these numbers in our country and around the world, I think we might have been in a different place today,' Pelosi said...Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Pelosi's predecessor as top House Democrat, voted for the resolution." (March 08)

Ms. Pelosi is a liberal's liberal, with a rating from Americans for Democratic Action of 100 percent and a district that gave just 15 percent of its presidential vote to George W. Bush.

"House Democrats on Thursday made Rep. Nancy Pelosi the first woman ever to head a political party's caucus in Congress. In choosing Pelosi on a 177-29 vote, Democrats tasked the veteran California congresswoman with reviving a party stunned by election setbacks and facing a political landscape in which the White House and both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans....Pelosi, who for 15 years has represented a strongly liberal district in San Francisco, has led opposition to the administration on such issues as Iraq, trade with China and the structure of the new Homeland Security Department. But she has also promised to reach out to more moderate and conservative members of her own party who say Democrats must not lose touch with the centrist voters who are determining the outcomes of elections....Pelosi too said Democrats will try to find common ground with Republicans, but on issues where they differ, 'we must stand our ground.'" (11/02)

That's just in a quick search.

Its documented proof that Pelosi was told about the CIA torture program by the CIA director. Many democrats and all the GOP knew what Bush was doing and knew he was openly committing war crimes.

That's not my understanding, Jack. Just like the war, they knew he mentioned the possible need for these things but not that he was planning to carry out anything without coming back to them.

If you refuse to look at the truth because you want to play politically correct Sandy go for it its your loss. Its already been documented by the CIA.

The hate is getting way out of hand, saw this first hand when I went to my family's for labor day. My family was discussing obama, and one of them made a comment about how someone should just shoot him! Then it was pointed out, that you wouldn't want that to happen; cause black people would riot- and joe biden would be president. So the family member who had suggested Obama should be shot, said something about dropping a bomb to wipe out both Obama and biden; but then it was again pointed out that Nancy Pelosi would then be president.

I sat listening to all this, hardly believing this was the family I came from. I can't remember the last time they had anything good to say about a democrat, but they've never been this hateful; not even towards clinton- who they despised. The really ironic thing, is that one of the family members who had joined in on this exchange; had just been talking about going to church earlier that day.

Ellen, may I ask if you told these people how inappropriate this discussion was?

I was close to saying something, because I was getting pissed and offended; but I didn't. The reason I didn't, is because they are like talking to a brick wall. I think some of the stuff, they bring up to try and get a rise out of me; although I don't think that's what this conversation was about. When I first got there, they mentioned they were going to one of those tea parties later; and how it was for people who didn't like Obama. I told them, he's only been in office 7 months, give him a chance; I was told they already had- and he sucks.

Keep peace in the family.

Isn't that how things got this crazy? Too many people failed to say what needed to be said for reasons like peace in the family or not offending the neighbors? Is keeping peace with people who are not peaceful really a good idea?

I am really tired of the Hate....what is really sad is it will never end...
We can not feel safe in America when there is so much hate just between the parties... Other countries see what we are doing to ourselves.....they do not have to do anything but stand back and watch us destroy America our selves..

Leo- I think you're hanging out with a bad crowd. Stay strong. If you lived here, I could introduce you to some hip people in your age group!

I am just blown away with the racism still so obvious in the US - that is scary when one race thinks they are better than another in this day and age. Multiculturalism is "in" it seems everywhere but the US.

Thanks for posting this to Obama YES! Palin ~ NO!

The real ugliness in current politics started when Carl Rove got involved in the Clinton administration. He operated under the premise that if you spread enough malicious lies and keep them coming no matter how often they get refuted that you "win". You can put out baseless lies a LOT faster than the facts can be tracked down to refute them.

Rush Limbaugh became one of the biggest abusers of this tactic, and became very successful as a result.

This has become the right wing's ONLY tactic. It has ratcheted hatred up to brand new levels. People actually BELIEVE the garbage these people have been spreading, and behave as if it is true.

John S., you might want to add that to the discussion on my Turdblossom Strategy post.

I have been worried about exactly this...

Featured in the Triple Name Club.

No use talking to right wingers, just a waste of time. I can care less what they think, unless they deplore what the senators are doing, not living up to their oath of office, nothing they say means anything. No excuse accepted.
If you agree with the protesters and what they are doing, you are just as bad as they are.

It seems that the conservatives who most fiercely and proudly proclaim themselves to be "good Christians" are anything but! I really hate to throw out the racism word, but a lot of this does seem to be racially motivated/triggered. If it were a white president with a parent from a european country would there be any sort of demand of proof for birth? Wasn't mccain born in panama??

so sorry to say.......
I didn't like the Clintons either.....

it will be,........
as soon as these people are defeated in the next round of elections.....

my Dad was right...
if you educate ignorant people....all you get are people that really think they are smarter than the rest of us......

Leo, I have been fighting the fight all of my life.
I was feeding hungry school children when I was a school child.
I ended up leaving a career in banking when I saw that it was built upon pointless greed.
I was at the front end of gay equality issues in the 80's - 90's.
I spent a decade doing civil rights work. I fought the fights. I picketed, leafleted, marched, conducted phone banks, took part in obstructionist politics... What did I accomplish? I'll never know for sure - but I certainly spent a lot of time outraged at things.
I now feed people in my community who need shelter and a meal.

What I know now is that you cannot stop the bad stuff from happening.
The more you fight things, the angrier you get. When you get angry at outrageous conditions around you, you cease to be an object of peace, but one of fighting instead.
I cannot stop the tide of hungry people from growing - but I can feed them.
I'd rather get done what I can doing something positive, than spend all my energy fighting what is wrong.

Leo, it sounds as tho' we will be fighting this windmill for some time. I chose the word we to let you know that I agree and to say that the change must begin right herem, right now, with WE the people.

Reading the placards at the tea party rallies, listening to the hate speech at some of the rallies during the presidential elections, seeing people take weapons to where the President is actually speaking, these are all events that say Republicanism and racism are entertwined. Worse, Pallin and McCain seemed to actually encourage it. Why did it take John McCain so long to speak up on Obama's character? The hate speech may not actually cause most individuals to get violent, but the hate speech may spur that individual who is not quite "all there" or just plain mean to act. I don't want the bloodshed, the anger, the violence. This is not why the U.S. was formed. It was so that we could all have freedom even though Black people certainly had to wait a very long and unfair to get their freedoms protected, and that is a terrible blight on us, and the effects are still prevalent. Too, while individuals spend all their time fighting just to fight, they slow the progress in actually doing good things for all people, which just happens to include Republicans. In the coming year it will not only be the minorities and the Democrats who lose their jobs, insurance, homes, but Republicans as well. Something to think about. And as to trying to even pretend racism is not a big factor, just look at the recent debacle over the Olympics bid by the President. Can't have it both ways.