Beg to differ (coming in late because of reports) but my experience is closer to @asdasdasdasd's. I was around Rush and O'Reilly listeners in an even earlier era (Clinton). I definitely heard a lot of "Democrats hate America, liberals are a cancer, and you should cut off any family members who voted for Clinton." The rage was palpable, especially when he was reelected.
Ann Coulter was a big name at the time, and you may or may not remember this gem from 2002:
When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors.
Now, Ann Coulter was and is a massive troll and I believe a lot of her act was performative grifting, but these were not isolated sentiments.
Of course I also saw the palpable rage from liberals when Bush was elected, and then reelected. But your version that conservatives just regarded liberals with a sort of benign contempt but no real animosity, and it was liberals who first got ugly and "bloodthirsty" about it, does not match my recollection.
Beg to differ (coming in late because of reports) but my experience is closer to @asdasdasdasd's. I was around Rush and O'Reilly listeners in an even earlier era (Clinton). I definitely heard a lot of "Democrats hate America, liberals are a cancer, and you should cut off any family members who voted for Clinton." The rage was palpable, especially when he was reelected.
Ann Coulter was a big name at the time, and you may or may not remember this gem from 2002:
Now, Ann Coulter was and is a massive troll and I believe a lot of her act was performative grifting, but these were not isolated sentiments.
Of course I also saw the palpable rage from liberals when Bush was elected, and then reelected. But your version that conservatives just regarded liberals with a sort of benign contempt but no real animosity, and it was liberals who first got ugly and "bloodthirsty" about it, does not match my recollection.
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