There are valid arguments on both sides of the pitched debate over the Democrats' health reform bill, which passed Sunday without one Republican vote.
Even the polls couldn't seem to agree.
But in recent days before the vote, the rhetoric clearly escalated from heated to ugly.
I noted in an earlier post one woman in Raleigh who last week promised "blood in the streets" if the bill passed.
I sincerely hope she was wrong.
But you have to wonder.
First, there were the protesters in Washington who berated a health bill proponent who has Parkinson's Disease. They tossed dollar bills at the man and sneered, "Get a job."
Then there were the protesters on Saturday who repeatedly (by one count, at least 15 times) called black members of Congress "nigger" and spat on one. They also hurled epithets at gay congressman Barney Frank.
Here's one take on those incidents.
I had hoped this kind of stuff ended 40 years ago.
I had hoped.
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