Criminality

I'm reminded of an annoying component of recent political discourse as I listen to left, right, and center. Bob Sheerer continually accuses members of the Bush administration of being criminals. This is part of a larger trend by both sides - differences in policy are not simply differences anymore - they are criminal. How can we expect to engage in any meaningful discussion of policies when disagreements are misconstrued as criminal? And is political opposition truly supposed to face the threat of jail, etc, the moment one of us lose power? That seems to me rather unAmerican.