Interesting!  I dealt with this with my dad a good bit and it drove me NUTS.  Honestly, I think I got to a point where I just had to avoid the discussions.  If we were talking about hot topics just to talk about them, I changed the subject.  If we needed to talk about them for whatever reason, I'd do my best to say something like "I respect your right to your opinion"...and still disagee.  In the end, though, sometimes I wonder if the root my difference of opinion was me playing the role of the child and sparring with my parent rather than two adults talking. 

Boy am I ever so lucky that my Mom and I have the same political POV!!! Especially in these interesting times. LOL However, if it was my Dad I don't know how we would handle the situation. We are on the opposite sides on almost every issue. Even when he agrees with me in principle on social issues, we still manage to disagree on the politics of it!! I don't think I could care for him if we had to talk about politics. Fortunately, I see it that way, my father and I don't talk. Also, he married a much younger woman who will surely be around, and busy keeping his kids and family away too, to take care of him. He used to be a good father until he married this woman, now he lets her make decisions about who he sees, who comes to his house, who he gives gifts or money to and he isn't even incapacitated! He's over 70 going to work everyday, playing tennis once a week, etc. Guess I am venting a bit. Time to go to sleep. Sorry for getting off topic. :)