Doug, you seem to have a great fondness for attempting to trivialize any viewpoint that doesn't agree with your own, and of trying to make those who hold that viewpoint appear even more closed-minded than you are. I don't just listen to people I agree with. I fully realize that considering other viewpoints can be a learning experience, even if I don't agree with that viewpoint. And who knows? A well-reasoned argument backed up with sufficiently convincing and verifiable data may indeed change my mind. The day I am not open to learning something new will be the day they may as well put a tag on my toe, toss a sheet over me, and close the drawer.

But I guess what you don't seem to be grasping here is that a lot of what Jim McDermott talked about was not just opinion. Being very much in the center of things and knowing what's going on in D.C. and elsewhere, he is also aware of how much important information is not getting to the public because they are so poorly served by those whom you like to think of as "the liberal media:" ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and FNC along with the print media, including that bastion of the liberal press, the Wall Street Journal. McDermott feels that his constituents have a right to know what's really going on. He didn't just voice opinions and make assertions. As he spoke, he gave lots of different sources where one could look up information for oneself on the things he was talking about. You see, he has faith in the concept of an informed electorate—providing someone will inform them or give them the information necessary to inform themselves.   He opposes the idea of a conned electorate, and he is doing everything he can to fight that.

As I said above, you can learn a lot by listening to people you don't agree with. But you can also learn a lot by listening to people you do agree with who are in a better position to know more about what's going on than you are.

Don Firth