In a typical sniping turn as a Time magazine commentator — using the Arnie-smelling as a chance to gnaw angrily on Jesse Ventura once again — Garrison Keillor (NPR-Minn.) claims that most people in politics are civil…even, apparently, those who accuse other media outlets of urinating on the political culture:

“You don’t hear this from AM radio, which is packed with angry men with chain-saw voices chewing into liberals 24/7, or from Ann Coulter, who is selling the old Stalinist line that dissent equals disloyalty. Or from the aging adolescents at Fox News, who enjoy peeing in the political swimming pool. But when you get among the real people who are actually engaged in public life, they tend to be well-mannered and respectful of the process and the humanity of those who take part.”

PS: Keillor also claims “Anger and loathing are losing hands in politics. George McGovern was a decorated war hero who got hit by more political garbage than anybody, but he is today the same good and thoughtful man he always was, and that’s victory.” Earth to Keillor: he still lost 49 states.