Did this HUGE political divide occur during the Clinton years - I don't remember it being SO bad before...?

Question

Democrats and Hillary STOOD BY THEIR MAN under such immoral and unethical circumstances that Republicans were repulsed and sickened by them to a new degree.

Answer 1

I think it started with the first truly bad president of our era--Carter. From that point forward, anyone who stuck by that party had an uphill battle, and had to resort to vilifying tactics--look at how Reagan was portrayed by the opposition, much the same way Bush is being portrayed now.

Answer 2

I suspect our current political divide goes back to the Reagan Administration, when 40% loved him and 40% hated him (I'm winging it on these statistics, but I think they're close to accurate.)

While George H. W. Bush's administration probably calmed things down a bit, when Clinton beat him out of a second term, Republicans felt cheated, since Bush 41 was beaten by good (and "Slick") campaigning rather by being an ineffective leader.

Then there was the republican take-over of the congress, and the impeachment, like you said.

Then there was the 2000 election, which fair or not, FELT unfair to the Democrats. This was followed by George W. Bush's behavior, pursuing an agenda which was to the right of his campaign. Republicans loved it, Democrats hated it.

All those things have contributed to the Huge Political Divide.

Answer 3

IMHO all parties have moved to the left over the years brought about by more relaxed standards in Hollywood and the media. What was unacceptable many years ago is portrayed as "almost normal" nowadays.

The Democrats (elite ones anyway) have ideals nearing socialism, which is a far cry from what our founding fathers envisioned. And this scares many.

The Republicans mirror the democrats of 20 years ago, while the Liberatarians seem more like Republicans these days.

It is hard to turn the clock back and take away individual "liberties" one has grown up with. However, the more and more left the country has moved over the years, the more it has led to a decline in moral standards and acceptable behaviors.

I think it is this ideal of how far left the country can go without following the example of Rome (i.e. extinction). And we are fast appraoching the limits.

Answer 4

It has been building up ever since the Nixon Years.

The difference is Clinton was a womanizer (As many presidents before him, were as well). The only reason they started delving into his sex life is because that is the only thing they could get him on! Any Presidents personallife should remain just that, personal. What he/she does with their Husband/wife children, parents or siblings is not our concern, unless they break a law.

Cheney/Bush/Rove and the Republican Run Congress however, have been breaking laws left and right, destroying our constitution and Bill of Rights and doing every unethical and immoral thing they can. They have been continually caught red-handed and swept it under the rug. Usually by slinging some dirt at the accuser.

Please state the crimes Clinton broke. Yes he lied under oath. That was wrong. But he lied about a sexual relation and due to the actual phrasing of the question there is a question as to whether he actually lied. That is why he was not impeached.

Bush/Cheney/Rove and the GOP has lied continually and been caught in those lies. They have destroyed evidence and destroyed people who testify against them. They have committed "high crimes" and deserve to be Impeached.

Clinton never even approached the level of Bush's crimes.

Since he did not commit any!

Answer 5

I'm sure that it helped. People in America saw their mistake - they only found out what we in Arkansas knew too well - that he was an immoral, untruthful, professional politician.However, the anger had been building before the Clinton's. The conservative voice had been unable to be heard because of the stranglehold that the liberal media had on the public. For instance, Walter Cronkite, supposedly the most trusted man in America (now he advocates the legalization of drugs) always ended his program with "and that's the way it was." In other words, the events of the day happened the way I, the great liberal journalist, said they happened. So, anger that the conservative voice had been held down for many years was about to explode during Clinton's reign. Only the elite's views were heard - those in New Yor, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Anyone else's voice didn't matter. Remember, the elites (libs) want to tell the majority (conservatives, aka common sense) how to live.

Answer 6

No, there were a lot of democrats that went with the republicans that didn't support President Clinton. Go back a re-read your history. It was just downright sad that he didn't have the support from his party. But he did manage to get some things done.

Answer 7

The divide was there. But, with the exception of the extreme right, the republicans didn't make as much noise as the liberals and extreme left does now and it was hard to tell.
Remember, the left has Hollyweird working for them gratis.
Barbara Striesand started all this.
She barely made it out of Erasmus High School in NY and when she finally did she went directly to work in a gay bar. Nonetheless she now considers herself an authority on analyzing Bush's grades in the Ivy league.
Show business got on the band wagon with her long before the 'war on terror'. The info-tainment industry fell in right behind them.

Answer 8

It started with Nixon and then to REagan years when he demonized liberals. It's been growing ever since. BTW, the same people in the GWB administration worked in high places under Nixon and Reagan. It all started there with the watergate break in of the Democratic party head quarters and their devisive rhetoric and finger pointing at liberals as being the enemy. We are still living in the shadows of the Nixon administration and his sociopathic paranoia. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush sr. all worked for Nixon. And, they help perpetuate this mentality with the help of karl Rove. These bitter authoritarians got so called conservatives so brain washed into thinking that Democrats are socialists that it melts their brains. BTW, the war doesn't help. It tends to divide people even more, just like the Viet Nam war did.

Answer 9

It's mostly a war thing. Everything else, from the patriot act to the illegal immigrants, the errossion of our civil liberties etc, just made it worse.

Answer 10

Read history. Todays political environment is nothing like it was throught the entire 1800's.