Hyper-partisanship debases our national discourse

[Commentary] If there's a political lesson to be learned from Saturday's shooting deaths in Tucson, it's eluding the partisans on both wings.

On the left, many see the attempted assassination of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as the logical result of overheated anti-government rhetoric from the "tea party" movement and conservative pundits. On the right, outrage is just as keenly felt, only it's directed at left-wing critics who seek to score political points from a tragedy that should rightly be blamed on a deranged individual, not a party or philosophy. The real lesson lies somewhere in the middle.

The right bears the brunt of responsibility for this poisoned atmosphere, but it by no means has a monopoly on hate-inspiring political speech. The resulting hyper-partisanship is bad not because it encourages political assassinations but because it debases discourse and fuels anger, incivility and stubbornness. The deliberative bodies that run government can only function smoothly if they're composed of reasonable people willing to act in the interest of the nation and capable of compromise; does that sound like today's Congress? Saturday's shootings don't justify an attempt to, as a Wall Street Journal editorial put it Monday, "rule certain people and opinions out of bounds." But they offer an opportunity to tone down the vitriol.