Wouldn’t it be nice if both the Republicans and the Democrats could somehow grow up and stop with all of the childish name calling? Recently John Edwards has come under attack for not firing two campaign employees who'd criticized Roman Catholics and religious conservatives, on there blog. As I understand it, this was there personal blog but they are being paid by the Edwards camp. I’d rather not repeat what it was they said because it was just too stupid to mention. I guess with all of the angry words being said on blogs, it should be of no surprise. I think the surprise to me is that these two were not fired right away. It seems as if his camp would like to start a religious civil war here at home like with what we’re seeing in Iraq today. Let me just state that I am not a Catholic or a member of any organized religion. I do however believe that Jesus was a brilliant person for seeing the importance of being good and doing good things. To me all religions that fall under this category are to be respected even if I don’t believe in everything they may say. Whenever I hear one of these ignorant comments coming from whoever’s mouth, it make me upset to think that we still have people out there that think in this hateful way. As you can imagine, I get upset a lot. I have to admit that I listen to the talk radio shows of the left and right whenever I drive around my town. I enjoy listening to the good points being made by reasonable people. I also have to admit that whenever I hear someone start with the name calling I feel the need to switch the channel. Being a centrist, I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with both sides on many subjects. I have to wonder if there are other people like myself listening to these talk shows. To me it seems that whoever wins the centrist usually wins the election. Of course I understand that these talk show wouldn’t be as entertaining if they were centrist and not so far left and far right. The thing that has always turned me off is when the name calling starts. If only we could have a debate without having to stoop so low. Many times I would be listening to a point being made with interest when all of a sudden the whole point was lost because a name was called by one side to the other. Not only name calling but outrages claims being sold as fact. Like with the Edwards camp calling Catholics and religious conservatives fascist. I’m sure there are a few Catholics and religious conservatives’ fascist types out there, but to call everyone that is Catholic or religious conservative’s fascist is just ignorant. It’s this very same kind of ignorance that we can clearly see happening in Iraq and many other parts of the world. Like when we hear that in many parts of the Middle East children are taught that all Israelis are pigs. If you have studied your history then you know that this is what Hitler did to dehumanize a whole population as to make it easier to hate and even kill them. Only an idiot would believe that the Israelis were literally pigs. What I hate about the Edwards affair is that when some Democrat calls a whole group of people fascist then you can almost hear millions of Catholics and religious conservatives moving over to the Republicans side. How can you blame them? I wish Democrats could remember when John Kerry was running and all we needed was a few votes to beat Bush. So many thought at that time that he was too much to the right so they wasted there votes on the Green Party. If only they were able to remember that far back then perhaps they would have learned an important lesson and we wouldn’t have to repeat it again. To think that Gore was too far right may seem hard to believe today but that’s what happens when the name calling begins. Can you imagine how different things would have been if only a few of those wasted votes were given to Gore? I blame those people that deserted the Democrats for all of the problems that we have today more so than some loyal Republicans. So here we go again. Democrats should easily win the next presidential race, it would seem, but how can we win when a few people can insult a whole religion in the name of our party, and nothing be done about it. Sure there are a few people out there that will get there rocks off by attacking the Catholics and religious right, but you can’t win races with only a few. We need to start thinking like a party that wants to win the centrist population. When Bush was governor here in Texas, many people, like myself, wanted to dislike him but couldn’t because he showed respect to our side. I have to give him credit for that. Perhaps behind closed doors he may have called us names, but that doesn’t matter when you show respect in public. How much I wish the Democrats could treat the Republicans with respect in this way. Say whatever you like behind closed doors but in public, show some respect. That’s called being smart. When the Edwards camp insults millions then it’s not only they who must pay, but all of us Democrats. I would hope that the Edwards camp would distance themselves from anyone who insults our brothers and sisters no matter what they may believe. After all it’s not the few loud groups that will get us elected but the majority of centrist that can go either way at this point. You can almost never get the far right to move to the far left. You can almost never get the far left to move the far right. But you can get them to move to the center. That’s how you win an election. I understand that we are bombarded with insults by the right but we shouldn’t want to be like them. We are Democrats and should act like it. Let’s let them make the mistakes this time unless you don’t mine having another eight years of another Bush to deal with.