John McCain's Former Chief of Staff on the Politics of Hate

Mark Salter, former Chief of Staff for John McCain, correctly points out that neither side has clean hands in the coarsening of American politics - but you would never know that if you relied on the traditional media outlets. While the hate and vitriol of the Left is ignored by the press, every hint of it from the Right is amplified and explored. Blowhards like Glen Beck and Bill O'Reilly are treated as if they control some vast Right Wing hate machine, while the hot air and hate spewed by Keith Olbermann and posted to the Huffington Post are ignored even as prominent Democrats make regular contributions to both.

Says Salter, "I despair of the coarsening of our politics and our broader culture... But our political discourse won't begin to recover any civility until we get some referees back in the game, who will call bullshit on both sides."

If they neither the Left nor the Right will police the hatemongers within their own ranks, then our only option is to look to the press to hold these folks to account. Sadly, by ignoring the hate coming from the Left, the press only encourages ever more hate from the Right.