One of the biggest problems we have in our political discourse is that there are many people who simply have no interest in hearing what other people have to say.  Rather, they will take any sentence out of context and run with it.  It happens at both ends of the political spectrum.  Sometimes it even gets picked up by the mainstream media.

A recent example was a discussion that radio talk show host Glenn Beck.  During an intereview with conservative evangelical Rev. John Hagee, Glenn Beck mentioned that there are some people who think Clinton is the AntiChrist, and asked Rev. Hagee if Obama was the AntiChrist.  The question is clearly asked in jest - as Beck is laughing.  Ironically, at the end of the discussion, Beck predicts that some of the left will actually take his question seriously and claim that Beck believes OBama is the AntiChrist.  (Anyone watching or hearing the exchange for what it was understand that Beck was actually making fun of such views).

A bunch of liberal bloggers and even some of the mainstream media jumped on the story, going on how Beck believes Obama is the AntiChrist.  Such conduct shows exactly why our political discourse is breaking down.  There are groups of people on both sides of the political isle who are so bent on getting the otherside that they will do anythng - including deliberating taking items out of context and misreprenting facts to make the other side look bad.  Such people include those who swear that George Bush lied to get us into the was in Iraq, but conveniently forget that Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and a host of other democrats made the exact same allegations as Bush.  Was Clinton lying?  Was Kerry lying?  Of course not - only Bush.

I am no fan of Bush.  He has done some things well and he has really messed up others.  However, it is disingenuous to assert that he was lying but give a free pass to those of the opposite party who said the exact same things.

It is really getting to the point where you cannot believe anything without going to the original source. The public should reject dishonest reporting - whether by bloggers or the media - on both sides of the debate.  Once people have been shown to be dishonest, they should be ignored.  Unfortunately, now days they are exalted and given speaking engagements, their own shows, etc.