http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/15/bayh.centrist.democrats/index.html?hpt=T2

Held this guy in high regard, apparently even with the Dems in charge it's no better. So polarized we're losing the good reps ;(

Both sides need a kick in the ass!!!

Damn. I liked Bayh. :/

Things have gotten so fucking polarized... and I don't quite think its just in politics. Like Obama said a week or two ago, Republicans have threatened fillabuster more times in the past year than in the 50s and 60s combined. It doesn't matter the merits of the ideas, everything needs to fail because its not their team's. I'm sure it would be the same if the party roles reversed too.
But beyond politics, if you look on the World of Warcraft forums everyone is either an elitist or a noob, there is no middle ground. Chinese athletes at the Olympic Games are either skilled athletes and patriots or mindless drones forced to compete by their government. Even in the world of higher education a professor at Penn State was speaking today at an event I'm filming. He taught a class and had his students "tweet" live during the lectures to him and each other for collaborative learning. When he was written up on "The Chronicle" all of the comments were either that he was innovative or he was a horrible professor or as he put it, he was "the devil".

What ever happened to the middle ground, why is everything anymore have to be labeled black or white, and why can't we simply apprreciate the grey areas?

As far as the government goes...politics is 100% about power and 0% about doing what's best for the country, and both parties are guilty. Granted, Republicans do it more often, but that's really like saying someone is more pregnant. There's no fact checking at all...and, because the US is filled with a bunch of dullards that will believe anything if it fits their particular phobia, perception is king. One dumbass says that because of the blizzards global warming is a myth...another says global warming must be true because there's no snow for the Olympics.....and millions of dumbasses believe them.

The issues we are facing further polarize. One party uses abortion to rally the religious and the other uses it to paint the other side as body controlling Naz...fasci...well you know. Granted there are other issues that polarize the country, but this one issue, as irrelevant as it is to the overall health of this planet, seems to do the worst damage.

I've lost most of what little hope I had left for the US government. It's corrupt, self-interested and moronic.:mad:

...and yes, I'm feeling like crap and in a bad mood today. ;)

/rant off

Wasnt this the great idea of man child Karl Rove? To absolutely politicize everything possible, including all departments of government that are supposed to be non partisan. Seems to me the repulican party has been setting new precedents, that the democrats will ultimately play when when they are the minority. Even if republicans take congress, unless they have 60 votes nothing will pass either.

Seems to me this started back when Newt took charge and worked in opposition of anything and everything Clinton. seems the GOP strategy is that anything other than total dictorial control is unacceptable. but ya the obstructionism so far is probably more than Clinton saw in his total 8 years.

Newt was certainly a turning point in the hyper-partisanship, but a lot of this goes back to the GOP "southern strategy" of the 60s when the Democrats and Republicans largely switched positions on everything, turning around the pole of civil rights. Prior to that the Republicans had a completely separate tenor to their politics, but once they absorbed the insanity that was the reactionaries and Puritanicals, they were hell bound for insanity.

And now we have the Democrats as a flailing last hope for reality-based decision making. Talk about can't win for losing.

And now we have the Democrats as a flailing last hope for reality-based decision making. Talk about can't win for losing.


That made me LOL! :D

We no longer have leaders in leadership positions in our government. It has become 'he who can call in the most chits/debts wins', and we are left with the likes of Reid and Pelosi and Boehner and McConnell; none of these have displayed any leadership traits that I have noticed.

You got that right Bly. The best we can hope for nowdays is someone that comes off as just slightly better than a used car saleperson.....

There isn't much leadership or common sense to most anything these days.

Just ideology and the fact that if you put all your thinking in some perfectly square box you no longer have to think for yourself. We all become Palov's dogs. Pull a lever and get a treat. Pull another and get the brown end of the stick. Sorry to use another China example but this thing with the Dali Lama going on will instantly piss off the Chinese, who hate anyone who even speaks to the man regardless of any other considerations bordering on being sensible. Does it really effect the Chinese all that much? No. China will still have a vastly growing economy and influence on the world regardless if Obama speaks to him today or the Dali Lama's plane corkscrews into the ocean in flames en route. All that matters is that the bastards in Beijing don't like him and thus things become difficult for everyone since Beijing now feels they dictate the global terms. For me or against me is really all you get dealing with any large organization. Play my game or I will take my ball and go home. Governments, companies, religions. You name it. Once upon a time it used to be that compromise for the common good was commendable. Now its every one for themselves and compromise is at the very least a huge loss of face, ranging all the way to political suicide. That article is probably correct in that the average person removed from the political elite probably has more grounding on what needs to be done but their voice has long since been drowned out by the ideological slogans, chants and the screams of the monkeys as they throw shit at each other.