Has there ever been a political situation like this?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I think a large fraction of the country right now REALLY hates the Republican party, but also hate the Democrats, just not as much. Today's Democratic party is truly the lesser of two evils. Both parties have failed the American people.

[CultureKing]

personally I think we are just in a slump of sorts, in a few years a good leader from one of the parties will hopefully push some reforms through and gain back the country's confidance. That or the world will blow up or something.

[Conan]

How have the democrats failed the American people? Iraq wasn't the only issue.  It continues not to be the only issue. So what if the surge went through. Another appropriations bill is up in 2 months, for the whole next year. Let's see what they do then. They now know the surge failed and then will be the moment of truth for Iraq and congress.

[SPC]

Currently, both the President and the Congress have approvals in the mid-20s. I think that if any of the candidates are going to win, they are going to have to distance themselves from both.

[opebo]

Both parties are right-wing and offer nothing to the suffering masses..  I should imagine this might be similar to the late nineteenth century?

[memphis]

Such a "slump" happens all the time. We had one in the early 1990s. We had an extended one throughout the 1970s. We'll get over it sooner or later.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Such a "slump" happens all the time. We had one in the early 1990s. We had an extended one throughout the 1970s. We'll get over it sooner or later.

I doubt it was this bad. The Democratic responses to Libby being commuted were pathetic, all hot air, no substance, no call for action. Pelosi and Reid haven't gotten the message that we're furious at their enabling of Bush. Reid said something about history might not judge Bush kindly. Yeah, and it won't judge Reid kindly either.

[MODU]

I think a large fraction of the country right now REALLY hates the Republican party, but also hate the Democrats, just not as much. Today's Democratic party is truly the lesser of two evils. Both parties have failed the American people.

It just goes to show that the dinosaur parties have long out-lived their usefulness and it is time to scrap them for something better.

[StateBoiler]

I think a large fraction of the country right now REALLY hates the Republican party, but also hate the Democrats, just not as much. Today's Democratic party is truly the lesser of two evils. Both parties have failed the American people.

I made this point after the 2006 midterms. The Democrats taking the House and Senate was not the Democrats winning, it was the Republicans losing, and the Democrats took those votes by default cause there was no one else to vote for.

The problem is that neither party has a check other than each other. And when both parties are bad and corrupt, that's not much of a check, so they just become more bad and more corrupt.

This reminds me of a Simpsons cartoon. In the cartoon, two aliens (Kang and Kodos) come to earth right before the 1996 election, place Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in suspended animation, and the aliens disguise themselves as Dole and Clinton. Their thinking is that there's only two parties people vote for, so one of them will win, and their plan of enslaving the population to build a ray gun for them will succeed. Homer goes to Washington and during a public debate reveals them to be aliens. The two aliens then say "Ok. We're aliens. But we're too close to the election and you can't change the candidates now, you'll have to vote for us." One person in the crowd then says he'll vote for a third party. The two aliens then say "Go ahead, waste your vote" and laugh. Perot is in the crowd and walks away in disgust. The alien Kang becomes President, everyone's enslaved to build a ray gun, and Homer absolves himself of guilt by saying "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos" as if that would've been better.

[opebo]

I think a large fraction of the country right now REALLY hates the Republican party, but also hate the Democrats, just not as much. Today's Democratic party is truly the lesser of two evils. Both parties have failed the American people.

It just goes to show that the dinosaur parties have long out-lived their usefulness and it is time to scrap them for something better.

Um.. no.  They are still emminently useful to those who matter, MODU.

[StateBoiler]

I think a large fraction of the country right now REALLY hates the Republican party, but also hate the Democrats, just not as much. Today's Democratic party is truly the lesser of two evils. Both parties have failed the American people.

Washington Post just did a poll on independents you might find interesting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/independents/

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Such a "slump" happens all the time. We had one in the early 1990s. We had an extended one throughout the 1970s. We'll get over it sooner or later.

I doubt it was this bad. The Democratic responses to Libby being commuted were pathetic, all hot air, no substance, no call for action. Pelosi and Reid haven't gotten the message that we're furious at their enabling of Bush. Reid said something about history might not judge Bush kindly. Yeah, and it won't judge Reid kindly either.

What exactly can the Democrats do about that though? It sucks, but constitutionally the legislative branch doesn't have any authority here at all.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

I'm sure one of the reps/senators from the northeast has mafia ties and can hire someone to... deal with the executive branch.

[memphis]

Such a "slump" happens all the time. We had one in the early 1990s. We had an extended one throughout the 1970s. We'll get over it sooner or later.

I doubt it was this bad. The Democratic responses to Libby being commuted were pathetic, all hot air, no substance, no call for action. Pelosi and Reid haven't gotten the message that we're furious at their enabling of Bush. Reid said something about history might not judge Bush kindly. Yeah, and it won't judge Reid kindly either.

You can't be serious. America was built on the presumption that those who are in power are inherently shafty and therefore checks and balances must exist. Seriously, America has been through a lot worse situations than Operation Iraqi Freedom and George Bush. Get some perspective, man.

[DanielX]

I actually agree that both parties have failed America. However, I consider the Republicans to be the lesser of two evils (cue partisan arguments).

The last few years has really brought the worst out in both parties, indeed in most of America's political institutions. It's time for a change. Time for civil liberties to be given more than lip service. Time for real economic reform. Time for no more useless pork. Time for an actual solution to our problems (not throwing money at them). Time to actually solve problems, not declare a "War On" them - remember the War On Poverty or the War On Drugs? Solid failures. And if things don't go right, the War on Extremist Islam  (NOT "War On Terror") might be a failure too.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The War on Poverty was many things, but a solid failure it was not.