Doug, perhaps I'm missing your point here, but doesn't the correlation you cite demonstrate only that people *think* there's a difference -- it doesn't really imply anything about the veracity or well-foundedness of that belief. Or am I missing something?
> Yes the Dems have moved to the right
> compared to the New Deal/Great Society days, but nothing like the
> Republicans have moved to the right.
Even if we grant arguendo that there might be real differences on particular issues -- I think they're more verbal than real, myself, but let's leave that aside for a moment -- isn't the fact of their agreement about the country's direction more important than anything else? If they're both marching over the cliff, does it really matter that the Dems are marching in second place?