Polarizing

I've often noticed that the mainstream media refers to conservative politicians as 'polarizing'.  I cannot think of one instance where a liberal politician has been labeled as such.  I'm sure part of this is due to the fact that liberals control the mainstream media, and therefore they're going to agree with everything a liberal politician says.  They view liberal ideals as objective truth, and cannot understand why anyone would disagree with it.

I was reading an article about the most popular presidents in recent history.  Ronald Reagan came in second but was described as 'polarizing'.  Um, do they forget the "vast right wing conspiracy" that turned out to be an immature president that couldn't keep his hands to himself?  I failed to see any Republican forcing the former president to engage in his antics with "that woman, Ms. Lewinsky".  But the media are largely on the side of democrats, so these things get swept aside and overlooked, and often viewed as 'unfair' to their "popular" president.

I'd like to throw another theory into the mix of conservative politicians being viewed as polarizing.  Perhaps conservative Americans know how to make a life for themselves no matter what is going on in Washington.  We may not be happy about what is going on in Washington, but we're not pitching a fit day in and day out about it.  We learn to live with it, and express our voices at the polls the next chance we get.  We're about internal locus of control; taking responsibility for our lives.

Liberals, on the other hand, get so much of their identity through their views that it becomes intolerable to them to have a conservative in office.  Like a child throwing a tantrum, they can't quit shouting and crying until they get their way.  Their lives revolve around their unhappiness with government.  They lack basic coping skills and therefore, the politician is described as polarizing.

When a politician is described as 'polarizing', I tend to think that it is more a reflection of the voters and their coping skills than it is a reflection of the politician.  After all, politicians on both sides of the aisles say some pretty outrageous things that are against SOMEBODY and offensive to some group of people. But it's how we handle those outrageous things that give the politician a label.  Conservatives are just better at maintaining a happy life no matter what circumstances they're faced with and therefore are less likely to pitch a fit over every perceived slight coming from a liberal politician and therefore, the mainstream media falsely believes that everyone is as happy with that liberal politician as they are.