This happens to me all the time when listening to the news, for instance. I’ll hear a politician speaking about some topic or other and think, “Yeah, OK, that’s pretty reasonable. I can certainly see where you’re coming from, though perhaps I’d quibble with you here or there.” Then comes the commentary, and it turns out that I’d totally missed the fact that said politician had just delivered the most insanely reprehensible, evil, nonsensical, and (of course) HORRIBLY PARTISAN diatribe ever to issue forth from the mouth of those bastards!
I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to be a politician. We constantly whine about how they never actually SAY anything or take any real stance, but good hell! It’s because the media forces them into a corner of utter blandness. Taking any actual position on anything, no matter how mild, is just an open invitation to a slaughter.
Anyway. Just getting that off my chest.