Those of us who enjoy it and find it exciting as well as entertaining, learned long ago that it is not to be taken so seriously that one gets excessively angry or emotionally distressed.
You have violated this on both counts.
FR has two sides to it. There are interesting, thoughtful and well spoken editorials on a raft of subjects, and there is the political activism side.
Stay out of the activism side, because you do not understand it and are taking it far too seriously. It is not a area for the feint of heart. It is a tough, verbal, psychologically demoralizing war of ideas and of power.
It is not pretty and there is no way to make it pretty by putting lipstick on it.
Just stay out of it, and you will feel better immediately, but don't think for a minute that somewhere, the art of politics is nice. It is not, has not ever been and never will be.
It was not long ago that we were shooting each other at the capitol building and on the surrounding grounds. We could return to that at any time.
Where I guess I would differ with you is on the ground that politics is ultimately just nasty. It is what we make of it. If we make it nasty here it will be nasty here. We set the standard in our own backyard. The reason people get by with it now is the same reason they've always gotten by with it - because it is allowed to go on. Many here would scream like stuck pigs if the press Lied about Bush. Then they turn right around and do it to fellow republicans. I guess I just don't see any excuses for maltreatment or hypocrisy. I'm not perfect; but, at least I try. If we define restraint as not shooting one another, although it does sound humorous, it's not much of a commentary on who we are.