We need to get the vitriol out of politics.

[LeftishBrit]

47. The point is, though, that most of the real vitriol seems to be on the Right

Especially when you go beyond words to actions.

The Republicans impeached Clinton for partisan reasons. By contrast, even when the Democrats had a majority in both houses at the end of Bush's term, they took impeachment 'off the table'. In both cases, it was obvious that there wouldn't be the Senate votes to convict; the difference is that the Republicans were vitriolic enough to try anyway.

The Republicans shut down government for several weeks to force their will on Clinton, and threatened to do so with Obama. Democrats have not done anything comparable -certainly not in recent times.

In America, most actual and attempted political murders have been by either right-wingers or total nutcases. Very few such acts have been committed by left-wingers - even the attempted murder of Ronald Reagan was motivated by pure nuttery, not by left-wing views.

In the UK, there is less political violence and extreme rhetoric in any case - but the worst forms have generally either come from religious-political sectarianism, or from frankly far-right groups: the BNP, EDL, in the past their forerunners such as the National Front. In the political mainstream, there has been far more hate-rhetoric from the right-wing tabloids, e.g. the Mail and Express, mainly against immigrants and benefit claimants, than from left-wingers.

Of course there are left-wingers who can be abusive toward right-wingers, but as far as I can see the biggest problem on the left is that different left-wing factions attack each other more than they attack the Right.