Most on the Left have come to view the Right, and the GOP in particular, as petulant, self-absorbed and obstructionist jerks. This perception only really came i

Most on the Left have come to view the Right, and the GOP in particular, as petulant, self-absorbed and obstructionist jerks. This perception only really came into its modern form when Newt Gingrich and the Republican House of Reps. forced the Federal Government to shut down in '95/'96 over Medicare (Medicare again!) and then voted to impeach Bill Clinton for getting a blowjob in '98. Subsequent to this was the Presidential Election of 2000. Widely viewed by the Left as illegally stolen by the monied interests of the GOP putting the importance of victory over the legitimacy of their power. This President presided over the worst decade in American history since the 1930's, and he and his party (and their supporters) are widely blamed by the Left for the clusterfuck the world found itself in circa 2008. Less than four years later, the GOP seems to have suffered from amnesia. They didn't seem to grasp that most of the problems they railed against Obama for not having fixed in four years were the result of their own bright ideas being put into practice over the preceding eight. Certainly, Obama screwed up by trying to work with the GOP when he had the advantage in Congress. After two years of GOP obstruction, the midterms handed them enough of Congress to see that absolutely nothing of importance to the President (even if those things also important to everyone else) ever saw the light of day. Whether or not these views are accurate, I think this is the mindset from which many on the Left are lashing out at the Right.