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  •  The last 4 presidents are the most polarizing.... (none / 1)

    While GW has the biggest problem here, I think it also points to the crumbling of bipartisan consensus and the partisan polarization of the nation in general.

    Truman, Ike and LBJ could command support across the aisles. It would appear that post-1980 that is becoming less and less possible.

    This probably partially due to the ascent of dogmatic right-wing Republicans who deliberately foster and exploit polarization, but I think it also points to the changing nature of both political parties.

    The Republicans are shifting rightward and losing conservationists, moderates and fiscal conservatives (Like Jim Jeffords and others like him) and the Democratic coalition is losing Old South social conservatives in favor of a more uniform liberal/centrist party.

    "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful...They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --Bush

    by Keith Brekhus on Sun Jun 06, 2004 at 03:54:53 PM PDT

    •  Consider also how broadcast (none / 0)

      and print media have devolved into scoreboxes and infotainment.  Few are reporting nuances any longer; unsubtle sound bites are all that break through.  And contention sells, too.  

      Marshall MacCluhan saw the truncation coming.  A Robert Kennedy sound bite from 1968 is long enough to lose the ritalin crowd and make the rest of the audience fidget.  Even presidential debates have changed.  Compared to debates from the seventies and eighties, Al Gore and W. debated at the "bow-wow" level; the contrast with earlier debates is stunning.

      So it does not surprise me that we have trouble with polarization and the politicsof personal destruction.  The great unwashed doesn't give a hoot about anything but mud and pies in the face.

      Sometimes a .sig is just a .sig.

      by rhubarb on Sun Jun 06, 2004 at 08:19:04 PM PDT

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