WHAT began the Hate in US Politics? Was it the Witchhunt to trap Bill Clinton?

Question

And did Rove Actions / Tactics help or hurt the situation?

Im talking the Current polarization/hatred.

Answer 1

It was actually a political strategist working for Reagan. I cannot recall the name of the name, but it was all him, and he felt so sick about it, his deathbed statement centered on how horrible he felt for having started something like that, and how regretful he was.

Answer 2

Hate in politics is as old as politics itself. There is an old saying "There are 2 things you never discuss, religion and politics" The simple fact is that we all have this tendency to believe that situations that effect us are unique to or own times, but this is just a failure to properly consider history. There will always be disagreements in the realms of ideology and conviction. Sometimes those disagreements will be more severe than others, but they will always be there none the less.

Edit: I would submit to you that the divides are no greater now than they have been in the past. Further I would suggest that the divide is not as great as the rhetoric would suggest. The reason it seems greater is because we now have access to a greater wealth of communication mediums such as the internet and therefore have more contact with a wider audience than at any other time in history. The vast majority of people are moderate and are not greatly divided in their thinking, but it is the most extreme among us who are the most vocal and they give the appearance on both sides of being a larger margin than what they truly are.

Answer 3

There has always been difference's in points of view. Between actual politicians, I think currently, it is not so much hate as it is a desire for power. True hate existed around the time of the American Civil War and possibly during the Revolutionary War. Hate exists in America, as power shifts from one group to another, but it is more based on power and control than it is politics.

Answer 4

Pretty much started out with Clinton, While the Country faired very well under Clinton, and most educated people thought he did what was best for the majority of the people, even republicans who worked for him, he also pissed off the extreme left and the extreme right with his balancing of the budget measures and his Foreign Policy clashed with the extreme right, and we all know what happens when you piss off the extreme right or take there special tax cuts away. The biggest smear campaign in the history of man, Now look where we are, I sure miss the days when all I had to worry about were whether Clinton had sex or not.

Answer 5

I really think it's the illegal trespassing situation that has currently caused a lot of hatred. The government is showing themselves blatantly, this time, to be against their own people, and doing all it can to help illegals break a law set down by the same Congress. NO ILLEGAL ALIENS ALLOWED!
The Congress always hated each other, it's just more noticeable now that the people are more angry than they.

Answer 6

I think it acutally began when Nixon was under investigation for his illegal activities. I think many hardliner Republicans were looking to even the score, and also that they saw what an effective tool negative press can be.

What the hardliner Republicans did to Clinton was outragious. What makes matters worse is that their hipocracy is exposed, because they have done a complete 180 degree reversal when it comes to the Bush administration.

Answer 7

I'm sure others will disagree vehemently, but I trace it to the rampant obstructionism perpetrated by the Dem cogresses of the late '80's, and more specifically to the Judge Bork debacle. Up until that time, SCOTUS nominees were judged solely on their judicial acumen, not on what their political opinions were. Once Bork was lynched for the crime of being more conservative than Joe Biden, all bets were off.

Answer 8

No. Long before that. Remember the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Bork & Sec Def nominee Tower?

Answer 9

Do you remember that in 1804 Hamilton and Burr had a DEUL WITH PISTOLS!!!!!

The hate has always been there.

Could you imagine Bush and Clinton having a duel now-a-days with a couple of Glock Nines?????

Answer 10

the Civil War 1861-1865

Answer 11

That and people like Bush stating that if you didn't support them, you support the terrorists. And people like Coulter and Limbaugh using the "us versus them" procedure to fill their wallets and fan-bases. And it's working...