Dividing America with Hate

By Bob Burnett

Six months after a sweeping defeat in the Presidential election, Republicans have taken on an unlikely political persona, Oscar the Grouch. And judging from their muddled "Tea Parties," the GOP has adopted their new Ideology from a familiar Sesame Street Song: We're mad. Very angry, very, very angry. Real mad. Very angry, very, very angry.

While 88 percent of Democrats approve of President Obama's job performance, only 27 percent of Republicans share that perception. This 61-point difference of opinion is the largest spread since Pew began conducting its poll in 1969, when 84 percent of Republicans approved of Richard Nixon's job performance and 55 percent of Democrats agreed.

Because President Obama's popularity ratings are so high, Democrats tend to dismiss Republican sentiments. After all, a recent New York Times/CBS News Poll found that while two-thirds of Americans approved of Obama's job performance, only 31 percent had a favorable view of the GOP.

Americans are abandoning the Republican Party. The latest Gallup Poll found that 35 percent of respondents identified as Democrats, an equal number as Independents, and only 28 percent as Republicans. But rather than propose ideological alternatives to Obama's policies, the GOP has responded with anger and dogmatic negativity......[Story continued here]