Last night I was nearly overwhelmed by the number of tweets and links to blog posts that were – ‘ahem’ – opinionated to say the least about Republican VP Nominee Sarah Palin and her speech given at the RNC.

As a conservative voter – I don’t expect liberal voters to agree with me or like the Republican nominees. We have different world views so I expect that we will have different opinions about each other’s candidates. But truly – some of the commentary passing through my Twirl reader was so mean spirited it took my breath away.

Liberals don’t own the copyright on mean spirited talk. Plenty of folks on ‘my side’ of the political fence have crossed the line from discussing issues to attacking people personally as well. I don’t like it any better when it’s aimed at those I disagree with.

I am very opinionated and willing to go to bat for my views – but I choose to spend my time telling you why I stand for what I do and not waste any breath in attacking what you stand for.

Do you know what happened last night? I lost respect for a few people. Not because they disagree with me – I respect (and even occasionally enjoy) disagreement! I lost respect for them because they were just plain mean.

After sorting through my feelings about the opinions shared on Twitter last night it was so fitting that my guest blog post came out on Michael Martine’s blog this morning!

It’s all about being opinionated on your blog. I think the same thoughts and advice can definitely be applied to sharing opinions on Twitter and other social sites.

So tell me Mom… how do the political tweets and blog posts from people you normally only hear business talk from effect your views of them?

Do you enjoy and respect the glimpse into the person’s personal views?

Do you get offended?

Does it make you want to ‘do business elsewhere?’

Or do you compartmentalize the issues and not let it affect you one way or another?