In the absense of any real political argument or platform, calling people names helps deflect from that point.
Remember in this day and age of radio and tv media, it only takes a few loudmouths to make name-calling seem like a popular position. The Democratic candidate in last U.S. presidential election did have slightly more of the actual votes, so its not as bad as it seems.
Of course the opponents of the Democrats are going to call names and do what ever it takes to make themselves look better and vice-versa. Politics as usual.
One of the myriad reasons why I'm an independent, don't hear anybody calling them names.
