1.The occasional rant is good for the soul. Oops! gotta drop the religious reference - maybe good for the blood pressure.
2.Moving on, I think the phrase "it takes a village" is wise in many ways. It takes a village of many: talents, skills, ages - but most of all opinions. If a village all thinks alike and all agrees on everything, sooner or later a fatal flaw will occur, and the village is doomed.
3.So I try to avoid labeling opinions different than mine as "stupid" "bigoted" or any other sharp put-down that comes to mind (yes, they're in my mind. The challenge is to prevent them from passing through my lips, or fingertips.)
4.Generalizations never hold up well in close quarters. Is O'Donnell the summation of the Tea Party? Nah. There is no one profile for any political party, or any religious denomination whether protestant, catholic, muslim, or any of the others under the sun. If you can't define a person as an individual, you really can't define them at all.