interesting article

http://nationaljournal.com/magazine/vote-ratings-senate-centrists-in-decline-20110224

it talks about how it seems that there is less ideological overlap between the parties. Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?

We should've all known it ever since the House voted to impeach a Democratic President and Democrats did NOTHING to defend him. Instead, when the Senate chickened out seeing how angry the people were when they tried to remove President Clinton, a few Dems sided with Republicans to draft, and pass, a censure against him (DiFi!).

That's when my eyes opened. Oh yeah, and when the so-called opposition party bent and spread'em for Duh-bya again and again and again and again...

But when Congress, with nary a Dem protesting, helped pass the credit card companies' BK reform act to make it harder for those annoying li'l people to file Ch. 7 - something President Clinton had to veto TWICE since Dems were complicit in helping pass that egregious reform bill - I was totally disenchanted with this crop of Congressional Dems.

But the lack of ideological overlap in Congress is made most apparent when President Obama was elected. That's, of course, when we had more progressive sites reporting the truth - something we had very few of in the 1990's.

Theres MORE ideological overlap today.

Theres a reason our political system keeps getting shifted ever more to the right, and its not because Democrats are acting less like Republicans.

They only measure the votes on an issue or policy. they don't measure the inherent liberal or conservativeness of the issue or policy itself. And the issues and policies have gotten far more conservative in the past 30 years.

it shows who the true moderates are and who the conservatives and liberals are. What I find interesting is it shows the type of districts that will elect a hard-right pub or a hard-left dem.

TX 19 - Rancher Country pretty much the western edge of the south.
CO 5 - Orange County refugees and a lot of fundies
OH 4 - I'm guessing a lot of old Bob Taft type paleocons live here
TX 3 - think JR Ewing. A lot of noveau riche types
AZ 2 - is this Bob Stump's old district? If so, it is a lot of urban sprawl (a lot of California refugees here) and a lot of Sun City freeper types
OH 2 - see OH 4
TX 22 - this is DeLay's old district. A mixture between working class repubs in Brazoria and Galveston and a lot of upscale repubs in Fort Bend.
OH 8 - again this part of Ohio isn't much different from rural Indiana
OH 5 - again, not very much different from Northeast Indiana
T 7 - I believe this was Bill Archer's old district. This is a lot of coke sniffing oilman living here.

WI 2 - a lot of college students and is generally a liberal area due to the college campus
CA 32 - this used to be George Brown's district back in the 60s. This is a lot of working class areas in the San Gabriel Valley.
GA 5 - sort of the capital of black america. This is probably one of the few areas of the south where the whites still vote for democrats. Lewis tends to win by huge margins in the white Intown area (like Five Points)
NY 8 - a lot of Jews and urbanites here
MA 1 - I'm not sure about this district. I believe this is Western Massachusetts?
CA 39 - sort of the working class LA Suburbs
IL 9 - I think this was Sid Yates old districts. A lot of upscale liberals, a lot of jews, and a college campus
MA 7 - not sure where this district is
MA 3 - not sure either
CA 7 - basically takes in most of Contra Costa county. A mix between working class dems in Martinez and Richmond but also a lot of upscale dems in Walnut Creek and Danville.