Is the political insanity of the day just a moment in time or is it the start of a paradigm shift?

[Stinky The Clown]

I really don't know. I *want* to think it is a moment in time but I'm not so sure it is.

[abelenkpe]

1. Think it's the beginning of a huge disaster

But maybe I'm just in a blue mood?

[Forkboy]

2. I'm just the opposite, I hope it isn't a moment in time.

This world needs a paradigm shift more than the Tea Party needs spelling lessons.

[tridim]

3. I'm seeing it as the beginning of the end of the two party system

The GOP is literally falling apart.

[Big Blue Marble]

6. Do not be surprised it the Democratic part splits as well. N/T

[tridim]

7. That is a fear I do not have. The Democratic party is united right now

We are as strong as we have ever been.

DU is not the Democratic party.

[Big Blue Marble]

9. Out here in the hinterlands,

that is not what I am hearing. Most Democrats I know are furious with Obama, and very unhappy with the ineptness
of the party. Maybe that will change in the next year, but right now every Dem I know is thinking they will not be
voting for Obama including some in important swing states.

You are missing the clues if you really think the Democratic Party is a strong as it has ever been. Perhaps you
are quite young so that ever been is not a very long time.

I remember the party in the days of Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy. That is when the Dems were powerful.
When Johnson destroyed Goldwater in the 64 election, the Democrats sat astride the world.

And that does not even compare to a time before I was born, when FDR and the Dems controlled Washington
and the country.

Whatever your wishful thinking imagines, both the organized party and the support are in shambles right now.
The only real power in Washington at this time is that of the corporate lobbyists And until we have
public financing, that will not begin to change.

I think the odds of a fracture in this party increase by the day.

[AndyTiedye]

11. The GOP's Rightward Shift Has been Accelerated by "Citizens United"

The Koch Brothers/Teabagger wing has taken over, fueled with huge infusions of Koch cash,
and the rest of the GOP is desperately trying to move rightward fast enough to keep up with them.

[KansDem]

4. The "'Back to Bataan'/John Wayne" movies just aren't working anymore...

We have to get over WWII and start looking forward to the (rest of the) 21st century...

[Big Blue Marble]

5. Sadly, I think we are far into the weeds on this one.

It really goes back to the assault on Clinton, then the 2000 debacle, the run up to the Iraq War, and then the financial crisis
of 08. There is a pattern of irrationality and dysfunction in Congress and in Washington that attends each of these events.

Maybe there will be a tipping point where the people of this country will demand sane, sensible government again.
I thought that was what the election in 08 was about, and was why I strongly supported Obama from the beginning.
But so sadly I was wrong, craziness and chaos rule the day and still have to play out before we can restore coherence
to our political process.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Depends... if the real shooting starts... all bets are off

if we avoid that... perhaps, but the pain will be incredible.

[Speck Tater]

10. It's just a continuation of 200 years of craziness in American politics. nt