>On Behalf Of Carrol Cox
> > I think elites are split re: Gore vs. Bush.
> > It would be interesting to see if there was
> > some pattern to how business types chose sides.
>
> Perhaps in periods when the sides are so nearly identical, elites
> choose either on the basis of a coin flip or on the basis of which
> side has the more attractive tableware at its dinners.
When were the Dems and GOP more polarized than they are today? Back when Dem Boll Weevils voted along with the most rightwing Republicans and GOPers like Ed Brooks, Jacob Javits and Silvio Conte voted like liberals?
The only significant thing about the present period is that there is the smallest majority by either party in the history of the House of Representatives, so all legislation is crowding in the middle of the road, since no amount of party discipline can hold the centrists (in the pure political not ideological sense) in either party in line.
But the median Democratic member of the House and the median GOPer are probably more ideologically polarized than almost any time in history, at least postwar history. But those median party politicians aren't running the show; it's the "Blue Dog" Democrats and northeastern GOPers.
-- Nathan Newman