the process by which groups make decisions

I was listening to NPR this morning and on Morning Edition they were interviewing Tom Delay about his new book 'No Retreat, No Surrender.' Now I don't claim to be a connoisseur of politics, though I'm continuing to better educate myself with each passing election.

Anyway, one thing that kind of surprised me was when Tom Delay was talking in the interview about how he hadn't wanted to meet with Democrats regarding some issue, and said something to the effect of "Why would I want to converse with the enemy?"

My question is this - Is this a commonly held belief that members of your opposing political party are "the enemy?" I understand opposing view points, and I have several friends who are quite liberal and several friends who are quite conservative, so I'm expecting some responses. I just think that "enemy" is taking conflicting views to the extreme.


Thoughts?