He thought he had me. He knew I would back down from my position if the accusation of smoking pot were leveled at Bush and not Gore. Same for him. That snippet of a conversation I had this morning tells of the significant difference between the left and right in their approach to matters of character.
People tend to assume that other people are just like themselves.
The left likes to believe itself ultra tolerant. What it really has is blinders to reality. It is not tolerant to accept flaws as diversity, or even virtues. Smoking pot may or may not be a character flaw, lying about it clearly is. The conservative sees the flaws and tries to deal with them.