I usually flag such stories when I see them. Per the Site guidelines:

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon.

It's rare that I see something political that passes the "interesting new" test. The political stories almost always turn into partisan shouting and no real conversation. In my very subjective opinion the vitriolic tone then leaks into other more interesting threads.

For better or for worse the moderators will in fact occasionally disable the flagging for threads.