999... I'm sure John IS a nice guy. We have several pretty conservative posters who I'm sure I could have lunch with and debate in a friendly manner. I also know that some of them simply cannot entertain the notion that certain famous conservative pundits play fast & loose with the facts and use imagery and language which pushes the limits of fair, decent and sane selling of their 'sides' points.
   The Republican party today in not the one *I* grew up knowing, with Nelson Rockefeller in office and William F. Buckley making their arguments. We have really off-the-wall politicians today, with REALLY off-the-wall pundits supporting them. This new idea of "don't worry about offering real ideas..just get power back by opposing everything Democrats try to do..." is making it hard to carry on any real debate.
    There is a coalition of rabid anti-abortion forces, mixed with slogan shouting 'anti-tax' zealots, mixed with stalwart, independent "I don't want ANYONE, especially in the govt., telling me what to do!" militia-oriented gun owners, mixed with and supported by business lobbyists just fighting anything that would cut into their profits, no matter what the interests of the country at large....and all these reinforcing each other thru Fox news and related outlets.

Not only that, for many years, there were many, many more conservative talk shows, both on radio & TV, simply because wild accusations and conspiracy theory rants are more 'interesting' and sell more soap than reasonable, sane talking points. It is a pretty recent thing to have any 'liberal' shows with any sort of format that both made sense and held viewers interest. (Remember the aborted attempt to make Al Franken's comedy show a 'liberal voice'? He just couldn't sustain both comedy and sense, and is now MUCH more effective as a Senator who 'occasionally' uses humor.)

So... the Glenn Beck situation is serious, for BOTH sides, because he IS getting lots of airtime to push very extreme attitudes and is, along with others, becoming the only voice of conservatism, hardening the base, but driving away many right-leaning independents and at the same time using valuable energy from the left to refute his polemics.

Beck, Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity,...and several ULTRA-loony radio shows have changed the entire landscape of honest debate to one of careless and dangerous whipping up opposition to 'liberals' and those liberals trying to figger out how to respond without resorting to similar tactics.

   I shudder to think what thing would be like if we got a president and both houses of congress filled with folks who agreed with Beck & his cronies....the Supreme Court already has 4-5 who are serious threats, as the "Citizens United" decision shows.

Yes...I DO get carried away, don't I? At least I care & try.