As an observer who enjoys both posters and oft is offended by both, I can tell you this.
Tom has morphed over the years. He wasn't always like this. He used to be so damn FUNNY, I'd spit my coffee all over my keyboard after reading one of his posts.

He had this "edge" (and it wasn't political), but he's really dug in these past few years and I think it's the Iraq war that did it to him. I think he subconsciously believed Bush was out to save us, and he did his best to be the "patriotic American". After all, he's in the rocket industry which is as American as apple pie and the stars and stripes. He is known far and wide.

So, he's the last one to know. (Ya know?)
I think he's altruistic. He's certainly not dense.
Quite a few liberals here have taken him on, and he's almost water-repellent.
I think he's tempered a bit since he took that 48 hr. self-imposed sabbatical.
But it's just like Tom to come back out kicking.

I think you take him too seriously here.
He's intelligent, and you wonder why he can't be completely rational, especially in an open discourse. I know one or two people just like him. You can't change their minds and you can't take the blinders off.
You see here, at the Zone; we try and engage people on viewpoints and try and reach an understanding. At a cocktail party of Zoners, we'd have to leave the Real Politik out of conversations just to be polite.

Tom makes me crazy too, but I've learned to love him even though I don't really understand him. I could care less if he thinks all liberals are horses asses.
I'm sure there's a few on the board here who think the same of me.