If you have to apologize and "make nice" with everyone, you're not a principled Conservative. If you know in your heart of hearts that what you say is true even if you have to step on a few toes, why apologize? It only puts the other person your debating with in charge of the facts (or lack of same) and the dialogue of debate. Take a stand on any issue and stay with it. There is no need to pull a John Kerry and flip-flop and go any way the way the wind blows.
No one is compromising their principles, it's about being civil.
It's not about being a spineless lib and agreeing with everyone, it's about treating freepers with respect and at the end of the day not holdng a grudge. Yes this is the Internet, but I've not been in a forum where people post prayer requests before telling other members of their family in real life,etc. Personally, I've been in nasty exchanges and usually do try to let people know no hard feelings,etc.
On a serious note, Bob's right. We Freepers are in this together, or should be. This election is VERY important and we HAVE been eating our own.
We can go back to agreeing to disagree after November...for now, let's take a lesson from the other side. They at least stick together.
I'll be the first to admit that we have a million choices in how we phrase something, and I don't always choose the best course myself. Instead of saying "You're a moron!", I should say, "I'm feel terribly sorry that you are struggling with a personality disorder"...
See? It's all in the tone ;-)