I think we would do well not to give in to the right-wing extremists' effort to raise their respectability by counting all conservatives as being on their side. The set of people that call themselves conservatives is much larger and has a more admirable history than the set of people that approve of the right-wing extremists, such as we saw on Jan. 6th. That is why I have been careful to use the term "right-wing extremists" or similar narrow terms in place of "conservatives" so as to concede as little as possible and to offend as little as possible. If Joe Biden is going to be successful in bringing this nation together he is going to have to negotiate with decent conservatives like Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney is a man without a country. He represents no one except whoever it is that is filling his campaign coffers. When he is in an election cycle we know what the press who is carrying him around on their shoulders will say about him. He tortures dogs by putting them on top of his car, what else? Just like when he was running against Obama. Mitt Romney and Lynn Cheney don't have a friend in the world, because Republican voters won't support them in season or out, and the establishment press will lower the boom on them in season.
and others. This will not be possible if all conservatives are labelled as "enemies of the people" and are treated as such.
I appreciate the conciliatory sentiment, but anyone who kicks Donald Trump in the pants on the way out the door, will have the support of virtually no Republican voters.
We can still oppose the nut cases that continue to chant "stop the steal" by isolating them as much as possible.
Stealing elections is a serious matter.
To do this we liberals need the help of good conservatives,
When you say "good conservatives" do you mean neocons? Because yes, those guys are already in Biden's camp. Those guys, by which I mean the Biden crew, and the neocons can't wait to start another war. Their going to get along famously.
which is why it pains me to see "conservatives have always been bad" above.
Right, staying out of war is terrible. Now we have the military industrial complex firmly in charge again.
And we can still advocate for liberal values without demonizing all conservatives,
That is great to hear now. Where were you when Donald Trump were getting liberal policies actually accomplished?
which is something (I am told) Joe Biden is exceptionally good at.
Biden has this skill, I see no indication he intends to use it. But here is the real question about tolerance, and I appreciate the tone of your post, if conservatives like Hillary supporters in 2016 start talking about "resistance," will you be as tolerant of their free speech as conservatives have been of the left for four years? That is really the only bottom line respecting whether or not tolerance is just a word or something real.