W has been "reaching out" to them since the very first day of his first term, and they have responded by becoming ever more vicious. I hope he is firm in his program and just ignores them this time around.
As for the average person, I have never been unpleasant to Democrats. They are always the ones who sweetly say things like, "oh, I thought you were too intelligent to be a Republican" (said by a fellow choir member), and then persist in following me around talking about it even when I told her that I was not there to discuss politics. It was the Dems, including some of these very same "sweet" people, mostly ladies in their 60s, who shoved us on the street or spat at us when we were distributing campaign material, etc. But I have never responded in kind, and most of the Republicans I know have not responded to their provocations, either.
So I don't think this requires a change in our behavior, because we are not the ones who are out of control and hysterical. I suppose we will just keep on not responding to their provocations over the next four years, because I can tell you, it is not the conservatives who are causing this atmosphere of hatred.
Very well said. I have experienced this "Sweet Nastiness" also, you want to choke on it. I have sometimes just asked them plain out "Why do you all HATE so much, you hate everything. I do not believe they ever wake up to a GOOD day, miserable people all. There is nothing you can do for people that live in the abyess, they want to be there, trouble is they are dragging the whole Democratic party with them, pity to the Zel Miller Dem. party. Hope he can change things, but I doubt it.
It was most interesting today when I stepped into my American History class right after I wrote my post.
The professor of that class is an obvious Democrat, although he never quite comes out and says it. Running up to the election, we were covering the Constitution and the electoral system - to his credit, he was very fair on the matter, although he believed Gore had won Florida.
Today things were a bit odd in class. He started off talking about the election, stating that it was over and that the President has won with a clear mandate. I could sense a certain level of sadness in his voice, as if this was not quite what he had expected. He mentioned the country needing to come together and uniting behind the president.
During the rest of the class he was a bit distant at times. We were covering the period of time after the War of 1812: the Era of Good Feeling where America was very united.
Needless to say, it was quite satisfying... I think more of these people realize that they have been beat than wish to admit it at the moment.