Bizzaro World

Before you go out trying to listen to and understand the other side, be warned. You will find that they come from a very strange world totally unlike your own.

According to Republicans, liberal policies prevail because their leaders have no spines to stand up to political pressure. The Democrats have superior ways of framing the issues. Democrats tell simple lies when the truth is often too complex for the average voter to understand. This is the only way they can win elections. If only Republicans would agressively call out these lies, they might be able to stop the Democrats, but they don't. Of course, the television media is almost entirely leftist. Democrats get a free pass, but Republicans can't get a fair break. Republicans have repeatedly compromised their values deeper and deeper just to appease Democrats so as not to appear too "partisan," and the Democrats still have the gall to demand further compromise and then blame the Republicans for being "obstructionist."
Republicans say these things to each other when they think they are alone. To them, it is as indisputable as the existence of the air around them. I have to conclude that they really believe this.
Strangely, in the same way, Democrats say EXACTLY the same things about Republicans. I have to conclude that they truly believe this too.
Even something as apolitical as the measure of charisma cannot be agreed upon. Personally, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and McCain all struck me as rather charismatic. On the other hand, Gore, Kerry, and Romney did not. That has absolutely nothing to do with whether I liked their policies or whether I voted for them. Everyone should agree, right? Oddly, I have met people who thought that Romney was charismatic, people who thought that Gore was charismatic, and people who thought that Bush was not.
Sometimes it feels as if I've stepped into bizzaro world, and when we can't even agree on the background reality, it makes constructive debate difficult.