Bipartisanship At Last: Civility Thrown Aside

After the tragedy in Tuscon many on both sides of the political aisle wanted our politicians and pundits to tone down their language. Well, so much for that idea:



Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn) launched an attack against House Republicans earlier this week during the debate on the repeal of the health care reform, likening their dishonesty on the issue to 'Nazi-era propaganda'. Now he drags the debate farther towards the childish flamewar level by comparing the Tea Party to the Ku Klux Klan.

Let me be clear - I think that this debate is full of hyperbole and misdirection on both sides, and the GOP's framing of health care reform as a 'government takeover' and a 'job-killer' is clearly dishonest. However, likening Republican lawmakers to Nazis and their followers to Klansmen is the worst kind of vitriol and should not be tolerated by the American electorate - and it needlessly gives ammunition to the bloodthirsty punditry.