A Dispatch from the Right

One of the big arguments Simon has been making this year is that bipartisanship is great-- but only if reasonable people from two sides can come together and reach an agreement.  If one side is unreasonable, well, then, you have a problem.

David Frum, a Bush speechwriter and conservative pundit, had a column in a recent issue of The Week responding to the nuts who showed up at town hall meetings packing heat. He doesn't agree with Obama, but, he writes:

The president can be met and bested on the field of reason—but only by people who are themselves reasonable.

It's good to hear a voice from the GOP admitting that this kind of violent right wing fury isn't really healthy for our democracy.  Frum also digs a bit into the sources behind all this, and points to the talk radio and Fox News wackos-- Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, et al.-- competing to be the most crazy:

As revenues dwindle, hosts feel compelled to intensify the talk-radio experience, hoping to win larger audience share with more extreme talk. It's like the early days of the pornography industry: At first a naked woman is thrilling enough, but soon a jaded audience is demanding more and more, wilder and wilder.