I blame Bush for the political climate we have today.
He refused to stand up for himself or for the republican party and they savaged him. Once they saw they could get away with it they knew there was no limit to what they could say and get away with.
I blame Al Gore for the political climate. Gore refused to admit defeat, and his contesting the 2000 election is what radicalized liberal politics from then on.
Bush was weak in dealing with it, but everything that happened after 2000 flowed from the "selected not elected" meme from the Left.
-PJ
The political climate today is attributable to the Clinton era. The Clinton's did everything possible to eviscerate their perceived enemies, political or otherwise. Going back to the Kennedy era (when I first started paying attention to politics) through 6 administrations leading up to the Clinton's the tone was generally congenial, then the Clinton's showed up. Bush II came along and it reverted back to the earlier era ... then Obama. In his inauguration speech he began his criticism of Bush; he and his democ'Rat allies in the liberal media haven't let up since ... they are both tawdry and classless. Typical liberals.