I agree with you that the progress has been way too slow. But it is changing. Not as fast as it should, of course. But if we all keep talking *at* each other, the pace will never increase to a significant degree.

Yes, I've been exposed to Rush Limbaugh's bloviating via the radio ever since I was a kid. Never bought into it, even while my parents told me I should. I knew what he was doing. I could see how Limbaugh engaged in theatrics while painting caricatures of various people within the Democratic Party.

As I said previously, I appreciate you highlighting Goldwater's behavior as a historical point about which I need to learn (and had previously been unfamiliar). I concede that it started well before Gore himself rose on the national scene, so I was perhaps hasty by insinuating that it "started" with Gore himself. But Gore definitely escalated it. And you're right -- all of the other public figures you've just cited need to be held accountable for their roles, as well.