Or maybe I had a friend. Some days, it can be hard to tell.

A few months ago, he wondered cryptically in a post on my friends list about why it is that people with different political opinions than his who he enjoys discussing things with eventually get tired of talking to him on the subject and wander off in varying degrees of either silence or huffiness. I'm guessing, given the timing, that I was the particular person referenced in that post. (Cue Carly Simon and "You're So Vain".)

And today, I got a little condescension bomb from him on a dead thread. And it reminded me of why I walk away from these conversations with some people.

Because, as daisy_knotwise frequently reminds me, "What's the point?"

I have lots of opinions myself. I like to believe that they're founded in data. I even see that I've occasionally been known to change my opinion given fresh data to look at. (No, I don't feel like getting into examples right now. Take my word for it for once, ok?)

But, you know, I am just sick to death of condescension. Condescension was what got me to walk away from a particular mailing list that I was on, prompting the comment that I reference earlier in this post.

I do my best to argue honestly. I will put out a proposition or argue with someone else's proposition, but I generally try to start from a basis of fact. I assume -- until reasonably proven otherwise -- that the other person is also interested in facts. I have been known to make suggestions to liberal partisans on how to improve their arguments, because I truly believe that we are all better off if we can discuss these things rationally. I've told conservative partisans to knock off the name calling, because it's counter-productive. (I don't make that argument to my liberal friends, because I'm pretty firmly convinced it would do no good. Maybe I'm wrong.)

And there are days when all this is extremely frustrating.

This is one of those days.

It's certainly being interesting these last couple of days. Yesterday, we got to read about Governor Rod's plan to put speed cameras on the Interstate highways to catch folks doing more than 15 MPH over the limit. And it will pay for more state police! That's good, right? Who could argue with that?

Of course, if it works, then we'll need to reset the cameras, because we're not raising enough money. And if you think that won't happen, I'll remind you that when they initially enacted Illinois' seat belt law, we were assured that you would never, ever be stopped just for a seat belt violation.

(I think you're generally an idiot if you're driving without a seat belt, just for the record. And I think that cruising at 80 MPH on the Interstate is generally a bad idea. I also think our speed limits are set absurdly low.)

Then there's John Kass' story about how a local fellow with lots of clout managed to get ComEd to drop a generator off in his driveway during this week's power outage. It's good to be the king!

And today, John Edwards has finally fessed up (at least in part) about his little affair, making it safe for major media outlets to mention it.

Now, honestly, I wouldn't much care if Edwards had an "arrangement" with his wife. He'd neither be the first person nor the last person in the world to do so. And maybe he did. I wouldn't think of that as being disqualifying for high office.

But having such a relationship when you -- the candidate who is running for high office -- clearly believe that it's disqualifying for high office shows incredibly bad judgment.

And I find having such rotten judgment to be pretty clearly disqualifying.

And what ties these three stories together?

In my opinion, the assumption that Rod, Pool Boy (and Mayor Daley), and John make that we're all a bunch of idiots and they can get away with anything they damn well please.

The sadder thing is: they're usually right.