Well put, DC. Watching all this I am reminded of what Vito Corleone said at the meeting..."How did things get so far?"
I remember well in the 1980's the great friendship between Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan. They would go after each other tooth and nail, but they had an unwritten rule that after 5:00 the fighting would stop, and Tip often went by the White House to have a drink with Reagan. Note Reagan's first term tax cuts were an anathema to most liberals but there was enough bipartisan support for it that it became law. Equally graceful
has been the relationship between the G.W. Bush family and the Obamas. Laura even went to bat for him yesterday. I put some of the blame for recent incivility on the CLintons and Newt Gingrich, who in the 90's had a "take no prisoners" attitude that created bad blood, and which probably made blocking Clinton's impeachment impossible.

I am the first to admit I was no fan of G.W. Bush and probably threw gasoline on the fire from time to time, but in truth that kind oftalk does not add to any debate on any issue.

Now on this health care thing, which no one undertands, people on the right are talking nonsense about death panels, etc.

I think one problem is that the media pays too much attention to outrageousness because it ges ratings. It would be much better IMHO to hear experts on all sides saying whether a public option is good or or not but we're just not going to hear it.