The first is that relentless partisan criticism invariably leads to name-calling. It’s like a drug addiction — you need more and more. Once you’ve called George W. Bush stupid a hundred times, audiences want something a little different, so you graduate to “worst president in history,” and finally, as Olbermann often did, a demented war criminal. Sometimes on that network, conservatives are labeled “Hitlerian.”…

To his credit, Bashir apologized profusely on Monday, rightfully describing his remarks as “wholly unacceptable” and “unworthy of anyone who would claim to have an interest in politics.”

He seemed sincere, but this is the latest in a string of such conduct at MSNBC, and it’s not an accident. It’s almost an occupational hazard. It’s difficult to vilify people 24 hours a day because their priorities for federal spending differ from yours or because they’d be happier if we called gay marriages “civil unions.” So Republicans have to be demonized.

On MSNBC, conservatives are racist, sexist, homophobic, and moronic. That would be dubious enough, except that it turns out that if you view so many of your fellow human beings this way it spills out at the edges. You make sexist comments of your own, homophobic comments, dumb comments. You race-bait in the editing room.