Rinse and repeat

Another day, another terrorist bombing, this time by some suicidal maniacs at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey.  We then have our presumptive presidential candidates' take on this latest atrocity.  On the one hand, a calm, measured response emphasizing our shared values and having each other's back as we fight the extremists.  On the other, waterboarding is not enough, we need to fight fire with fire.  I guess that means we need to recruit our own reverse terrorists.  Or maybe we need to behead a few "detainees", just to show the other side we aren't "soft" on radical Islamic terrorism.  The scary part is the latter prescription resonates with a not inconsiderable portion of the electorate.  Once upon a time, we turned to our leaders to appeal to the better angels of our nature.   Then, the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys and other opinion leaders on the right told us that hate and fear were priority responses to whatever bothered us and leaders of one political party agreed with this nihilistic view of society.  I hope we firmly reject this in November.