Respecting someone as a person and respecting someone's politics are different, and I sometimes think that that's one of the things the Democratic party forgets. My dad's a total Republican, and he's well-intentioned, genuinely, but he's WRONG. And I can respect him and love him and still tell him that he's FREAKING WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING. The thing is, no matter how much you want to, it's hard to behave respectfully toward a person when their politics don't respect you as a person. Which doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

But, yeah, to crib a little from Aaron Sorkin (and Leo McGarry, naturally), when you're standing so close to Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and George Bush and Rick Santorum, it's kinda hard not to paint you with the same brush.