That Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were the lone members of their respective bodies to endorse an oath to - gasp! - be respectful is the latest evidence of the vile state of political discourse in this country.
I'm all for the type of hard-nosed, aggressive and civil political discussion that Davis and DeMoss are hoping to promote. And I applauded the dozens of former elected officials who sent a letter to literally every congressional candidate throughout the country this year, imploring them to remain open to compromise should they earn a trip to Washington.
I just think these sort of efforts need to expand the Rolodex, or Internet address book. They should have been signed, sealed and delivered to talk-radio hosts and cable-television pundits, too. Elected officials may be the only agents of intolerance directly accountable to the people. But they do not represent the root of this country's incivility problem.
Rather, the vicious cycle begins with the 24/7 media beast that boils every issue down to a liberal-conservative, left-right, red-state-blue-state shout-fest and plants it on a split screen. At some point, listeners and viewers became conditioned to view politics only through one or the other of those diametrically opposed worldviews. Anything in between - moderation, pragmatism, whatever you want to call it - is now seen as the domain of the weak-kneed.
