TheAnchoress. . .

. . .was kind enough to link to me today, after dealing with Blogger's temperamental side for a few hours. For her trouble, she gets a reciprocal link and this little tease in return:

"I've been reading various points of view at National Review Online, Hugh Hewitt, Captain Ed and Andrew Sullivan (among other blogs - it's a hot issue) and everyone has had the chance to express themselves clearly, everyone has been heard, and no one has been called 'disloyal' or 'a bad conservative'. No one has been told their views are 'idiotic', 'moronic', 'narrow' or 'STUPID.' It's precisely the sort of respectful dialogue one expects from 'tolerant', 'liberal-minded' people. Increasingly, in my experience, those people are found in the GOP."

I tend to agree, though I'll readily admit that the right has had its moments of that sort of behavior. The Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond debate got pretty contentious, as I recall. It would be nice to be able to believe that the days of intra-party contumely are forever behind us, but my instincts tell me otherwise.

Things will probably get much worse when the Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process starts up. Between the James Dobson and Schwarzenegger wings of the party is a huge piece of ideological real estate, and the vast majority of the party lives on it, myself included.