I think people aren't hurling abuses at you for just asking a question. It's more that your original comment "Why does he want a city run grocery store?" sounds like you didn't even spend 1 second to think about the question yourself.
why would anybody want a city run grocery store? what could possibly be the reason? is it maybe sothat the city can better control what the grocery store does? such as setting food prices? on a politics platform that specifically promised cheaper cost of living for the people? hmmm ...
if you had just guessed some response to your own question and then asked for confirmation, i guess people would respond more empathically, as you would have shown that you even thought about this topic for 10 seconds yourself.
this way, it takes you 2 seconds to write the question and other people 5 minutes to write a well-balanced answer, which is just mean and unfair to them.