"I think some people are making an effort to seem magnanimous, to prove some sort of point."
You mean like Frist, Hastert, Snowe, Collins, Chaffee, Specter and all those other spineless "Republicrats" who are (or were) so hellbent on making nice with the Dummicrats. Look what magnanimity got us in the last election.
Something like that.
But this forum has many posters, many points of view. If some people want to rend their garments over Molly Ivins, that's fine.