Both sides handled it poorly, but what I primarily saw was the pro-Bush side dismissing their opponents as just "idiots" or "well intentioned idiots", not "evil idiots". Which, is obviously not good for a healthy debate, but an idiot is totally different from an evil-idiot.
"Democrats are the party of hate. Republicans are the party of fear" - Penn Gillette
The pro-Bush side encompasses a wide variety of people on the right and I'd swear that some of them thought the left were evil and were shovelling bucketfuls of hate as well. Maybe if you just listened to some of the more civil pundits on the right like David Brooks, William F. Buckley Jr. or George Will then you got a different view.
"Democrats are the party of hate. Republicans are the party of fear" - Penn Gillette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG6JYsm1GmM