I skimmed the thread, and I've got two things to say.

1. There's been a polarizing "politics-is-life-and-death" kind of vibe going on since the Clinton-Lewinski scandal. That vibe got amplified by 9/11. Prior to all this, gentlemen could discuss politics with decorum, even when disagreeing passionately, without causing each to think the other was a nut-job. This alarmist tilt tends to leach into nearly every political thread, which makes such threads...unpleasant for my reading, and I more often than not ignore them.

2. I love bacon.