When do you think political divisiveness became really bad?

Scruffy wrote: It seemed to escalate really bad during the Bush 2 - Gore debacle. And of course, the Clinton impeachment and the Newt Gingrich government shutdown. These were bad times, but what is the cause behind them?

When the left kept spouting Bush was "selected not elected" and the "He's not my President"

When they tried and failed to get HillaryCare, in answer to your question Scruffy.

The country didn't want it then apparently but a strange thing happened, it was shoved down our throats when:

1848 when a self-propelled turd named Marx wrote his delusional classic.

I vaguely remember the Ford-Carter campaign... I do; however, remember a lot of people decrying Nixon after Watergate.

I remember the Carter-Reagan campaign more. I do not remember the wall-to-wall political ads at that time...of course there were only 5 or 6 TV stations at that time.

I think things got a little ugly when Reagan was campaigning for his second term. But again, I do not remember the deluge of political ads, either for local races or the national race.

The first time I voted for President was in 1988...again, I do not remember the phalanx of TV ads during that campaign. Nor was there a lot of vitriol from one side to the other where I was living at the time...in Arkansas.

I remember the '92 campaign and I think it was then that the ads started to run non-stop and each side was slinging mud as quickly at the other side as they could.

I want to say it really, really got bad when Clinton was running for his second term. Or maybe that was when I started paying more attention to politics.

I think the non-stop ads started during the 2006 races here in Colorado. I noticed a lot more mud-slinging during that year as well.

It is real disheartening to me and I try to steer away from any discussion dealing with politics unless I really know who I am talking with.

Am I the only one who remembers the Nixon-Kennedy campaign? The pope would take over the US if Kennedy was elected. All kinds of dung about Catholicism.

Nope...I remember it.

I think it may have been around the time when the left started the anti-war movement with compassionate message:

Oh, I get it now. This was a rhetorical question.

Satchmo wrote: Oh, I get it now. This was a rhetorical question.

No, it's a serious question that's been on my mind for a couple days.

Satchmo wrote: Am I the only one who remembers the Nixon-Kennedy campaign? The pope would take over the US if Kennedy was elected. All kinds of dung about Catholicism.

I remember, Not that the pope would “take over” but that because Kennedy was Catholic he would be subservient to the pope and thus do as the church wanted and not necessarily what was best for America. Also that he might spill government secrets during confession.

Seems pretty silly in retrospect.

But I do believe the current ramped up diverseness started with the left’s hatred of GW, and the “selected not elected”, “he’s not my president”, “somewhere in Texas a village lost it’s idiot” and on and on.