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Columnist Dave Barry once wrote that if you needed to make conversation, one of the safest topics was always “those were some really bad calls the team got last night.” He said it didn’t matter what your team was – people would always agree with you. That’s always stuck with me.
To add to your point, no matter what side you’re on, attitude matters. If you can’t say what you’re saying with respect, while trying not to offend and genuinely listening to other points of view, you’re a problem. Name-calling and self-righteousness aren’t nice no matter where on the political spectrum you sit.
@Momtofourkids, I also live in a very blue state, and we’ve had plenty of conservative presidents over the years while I was in HS, college, and grad school, and I never heard other Republican presidents treated without respect even when they were vociferously disagreed with. I believe the vitriol you’re hearing now is directed not against the office or even the party, but against specific acts by a man, which would never have been tolerated by presidents of either party in the past. And I’m not trying to make this political – quite the opposite.