(Here's an interesting question. How much does that underground conservative smear rhetoric affect elections? Are swing voters swayed by blog comments or emails? - promoted by Jay Stevens)
I was reading the comments in the Billings Gazette today about Obama's visit to Billings, and the first three comments were total illogical ramblings from a user named "Obama bin Biden." I reported it as offensive (not that the Billings Gazette ever will do anything about it). Then I was reading the comments about Brian Schweitzer's speech - another post by OBB, but then someone used the term 'enviro-terrorists' to refer not to those that ruin our environment without paying to clean it up, but to the environmental movement.
Neither of these users gave any evidence of sanity, but what's up with associating terrorists with Democrats? Has the Republican party moved so far right that there is no longer room for reasoned debate? And perhaps more importantly, how does the average swing voter react to these comparisons? Do they associate the two in their mind, or do they, like I do, react in disgust that any human would dare insult the losses of those with family and friends that died during September 11, not to mention the soldiers that have been lost fighting the war on terror?
I have to hope that the swing voters react like me. I would lose my faith in mankind if I admitted that those crazy comments persuade more voters than a reasoned and respectful debate.
