Extreme Republicans

I agree with Neal Gabler ("The Extreme Republican Party, 9/12/09) that our political system benefits from having two parties with opposing ideological foundations. Mr Gabler, however, like too many of his fellow Democrats, approaches debate on current issues with an unfortunate extremism of his own. Rather than discuss global warming or the appropriate role of the federal government in end of life care, he labels any dissenters to the party line as deranged and beyond the pale. The President's health care address to Congress evidenced a similar self-righteous inflexibility toward dialogue: I'm right, you're wrong, so don't do a lot of talking and get out of the way of progress. And Mr. Gabler accuses Republicans of knowing only "how to polarize"?