Reply #5: I think the stakes are so high people are willing to be intellectually dishonest to push their views [View All]

[jpgray]

In other words, people who support a candidate will attempt to rationalize away -any- statement or vote that is less than perfect, as opposed to just admitting the flaw. Conversely, they will have a desire to inflate the flaws of other candidates, and dishonestly promote neutral or even good statements/votes as failures if they come from an opposing candidate.

Also, people interpret context and intent based on whom they support or oppose. For the candidate they support, the most favorable context and intent is assumed; for the candidate they oppose, the most negative context and intent is assumed. This is true even if the statement/behavior is very vague and difficult to pin down.

It's not true of everybody, but I see quite a bit of it.