Both sides now?

I really don't understand phrases like "the poisonous atmosphere in Washington these days" or "the prevalence of hyperpartisanship" etc. Only one party has been guilty of creating a poisonous hyperpartisan climate and that is the Republican party. Its representatives are vying with each other over who is more absurdly reactionary: denying the Theory of Evolution and obvious climate changes, wanting to establish Christian ayatollahs and disestablish public education, and having its spokespeople smear  anyone who departs from its crazy mishmash of medieval ideas. What passes for ideas from the TeaScreamers, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh has now become the guiding ideology and talking points of the Party for The Rich.

There's too much passive voice in press commentary on this subject. It's not the Dems who pushed Olympia Snowe to quit the Senate (more on this disappointing political figure in a future blog). It's not the Dems who call advocates of birth control sluts. It's not the Dems who think the dream of a college education is elitism and deliberately lie about Obama's words on the subject. It was Newt Gingrich who called Obama "the most dangerous president in modern American history." It was Rick Santorum who completely distorted John Kennedy's remarks about religious liberty, saying “What kind of country do we live [in] that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?”

The Republicans, in their anger and frustration over having a non-white and mildly liberal president, are the ones creating a poisonous and hyperpartisan atmosphere in this country.