Donna Brazile has more than paid her dues in the Democratic Party

[Kentonio]

62. Pre-Gingrich primarily, although its more of a regression over time

Rather than something you can put a hard date on. You can also of course find exceptions from long before (because people being unreasonable isn't anything new), but as a general rule I think its fair to say that there used to be considerably more respect shown to politicians of both parties by their political counterparts and by the country at large.

The GOP are responsible for breaking that relationship, and the despicable and utterly disgusting way they treated Hillary over the years is a prime example of this. There are of course countless other examples, culminating in the pre-school behavior they exhibited towards President Obama.

What saddens me is that by polluting the political arena the way they have, that it seems to have normalized disrespect across the spectrum. Donna Brazile deserved to be listened to, have her points debated, and yes if it turns out she was dishonest or working on a hostile agenda then she should be disgraced for it. Instead she was attacked pretty much from the second the story broke, with people already making up their minds before we really knew anything much. The second any new news broke, both sides leapt on the details twisting them to fit their own arguments, regardless of what any of it actually means.

I'm just tired of it all. If a politician lies and discards their integrity then they deserve to be called out and suffer the political consequences of that. I don't care if they call themselves a progressive or a liberal or a centrist or whatever. I have infinitely more respect for a politician with integrity who I don't align with myself, than I do for someone who shares my beliefs but has no integrity. I can respect someone and still disagree with them intellectually or politically. I miss the times when that was the norm.