Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

And what did you find concerning Ornstein,was he also a liberal partisan? I don't believe he is. I'm not sure one can find a totally unbiased political analyst. In a sense..all of us here are political analysts and we bring our bias to the table.Those that have degrees in political science are more likely to sway employers to employ them and get paid for their analysis,the rest of us do not. If this article had gone the other way and they found that the Democrats were more responsible for DC gridlock you would likely say that the authors are politically astute because the programs that Democrats support are in fact responsible for the gridlock in question. There are many ways to look at the causation of gridlock and assign responsibility for it. That's why I want to read their book,I want more information.

It seems that you are easily swayed by any assessment that appears to go against the GOP or the conservative message. You may be even more partisan than Ornstein and Manns,they at least admit that Democrats are hardly blameless, and they have their own extreme wing and their own predilection for hardball politics.

For some,political labels like liberal and conservative fit nicely. For others,these labels are not a good fit,they try to separate the wheat from the chaff in the political rhetoric they hear on a daily basis. They may be conservative on some issues and liberal on other issues. Take pity on them,they have a harder time deciding the facts where partisans just get in line with their preferred talking points.

Originally Posted by MrLiberty

I have watched Ornstein over the years enough to know he is liberal. And, yes, I am partisan when it comes to a piece of crap like what was presented.

You highlighted many passages that are pure BS, like this one, "Republicans are the driving force behind the strategic use of partisanship, such as holding up nominations, blocking widely supported bills and obstructing policy making in D.C." My God do Ornstein and Mann ever hear of Mr. Estrada, Bush's nominee for the SC. The democrats have blocked just as many nominees and used filibusters as much as republicans have.

These two may think people have short memories when it comes to democratic rancor when Bush was in office. Perhaps some people do, but not many, and especially not me.

This article is slanted so far to the left that it reeks of partisanship. As someone who I know is centrist I am surprised that you don't see it.

Originally Posted by MrLiberty

I have watched Ornstein over the years enough to know he is liberal. And, yes, I am partisan when it comes to a piece of crap like what was presented.

You highlighted many passages that are pure BS, like this one, "Republicans are the driving force behind the strategic use of partisanship, such as holding up nominations, blocking widely supported bills and obstructing policy making in D.C." My God do Ornstein and Mann ever hear of Mr. Estrada, Bush's nominee for the SC. The democrats have blocked just as many nominees and used filibusters as much as republicans have.

These two may think people have short memories when it comes to democratic rancor when Bush was in office. Perhaps some people do, but not many, and especially not me.

This article is slanted so far to the left that it reeks of partisanship. As someone who I know is centrist I am surprised that you don't see it.

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

AGAIN..the authors took the time to point out that "Democrats are hardly blameless, and they have their own extreme wing and their own predilection for hardball politics. But these tendencies do not routinely veer outside the normal bounds of robust politics,”

You say... "This article is slanted so far to the left that it reeks of partisanship." I disagree, I think the responses to the article are more slanted to the left and the right than the article itself.

The authors expressed their opinion below.......



The above statement could also be applied to Democrats through the years no?

The authors are just saying that in their opinion,it's "worse than ever",not that they have never seen this from the other side of the aisle.

Many people on both sides of the aisle think it's worse than ever while not forgetting past obstructionism. Also...some may believe politics has become more extreme and divisive. Sen. Olympia Snowe stated,"Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term,". I have always liked Sen. Snowe but she has had enough.More will follow her departure. I believe FDR favored the idea that politicians should be true to their left and right ideologies but it's not that simple!

I plan to read their new book..It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.

I suspect that they will not let the Democrats totally escape their criticism just as they've not given them a free pass in this article.

Originally Posted by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein

In the third and now fourth years of the Obama presidency, divided government has produced something closer to complete gridlock than we have ever seen in our time in Washington...

Originally Posted by pjohns

Excellent!

As a general rule, I think gridlock is a very good thing. Certainly, I consider it far preferable to the left's desire for Getting Things Done in Washington.

And I consider gridlock an even higher value when the president leans heavily to the left; and when Harry Reid is in control of the US Senate...

Originally Posted by pjohns

Excellent!

As a general rule, I think gridlock is a very good thing. Certainly, I consider it far preferable to the left's desire for Getting Things Done in Washington.

And I consider gridlock an even higher value when the president leans heavily to the left; and when Harry Reid is in control of the US Senate...

Originally Posted by cnredd

I got the seat next to you...

Originally Posted by saltwn

Do you believe in reincarnation?
Cause I keep getting this aura of Nero playing the fiddle when I read some of your latest posts.

Originally Posted by larryr

How is Obama leaning heavily to the left? He's the guy that appointed the deficit commission and packed it with deficit hawks. He's given no support whatsoever to any protest movement unlike what he T" or word similar to that. How about raiding medical marijuana clinics in states that have approved medical marijuana? Took over GM? Both parties bail out the big guys and have been since I can remember. Nothing radical there. In the bailout Obama didn't allow anything for workers wages. New workers work for way less. This alone should make republicans happy.