Liberals are From Mars Conservatives From Venus

E. J. Dionne Jr. has a piece in the Washington Post which examines the current discord between liberals and conservatives. He has a point with the following quote:

Liberals have so little respect for conservatives these days that people on the left are genuinely astonished when people on the right have principled disagreements with each other. The left assumes the right marches in lock step under orders from the White House.

Conservatives have so little respect for liberals that they see every liberal action as inspired by hatred of President Bush, opposition to religion and contempt for people in “the heartland.”

I agree entirely. What I find amusing though is how E. J. seems to elevate himself above the arena of discord, as if he were some reluctant spectator rather than a willing participant. While both sides have contemptuous views of one another, the liberal view is also the one that is perpetuated in the mainstream media as the one that is “correct”, which in turn increases conservatives’ contempt of the liberals.

It’s sort of like a hockey game where the referee is only calling penalties against one team. It often gets out of hand. But I have a feeling E. J. doesn’t watch hockey.