An Unstatesmanlike Dearth

I used to be a big "Crossfire" fan back in the '80s and '90s (I especially liked it when Pat Buchanan and Michael Kinsley were on - great but respectful debate). I especially remember this one episode, in particular. They had on Shimon Peres and some moderate Palestinian fellow who (I think) used to be the mayor of Bethlehem. And the two guys were actually agreeing A LOT (and, even when they disagreed, they were being civil about it)! It was astonishing and I kept on thinking and thinking, "Man, if it were ever simply these two fellows over there, we would probably have peace in about a week."...........................................................................................Well, I kind of get that same feeling when I listen to Senators Tom Coburn and Kent Conrad. I.E., if you ever put these two fellows in a room alone together, you could probably come up with a budget (with some real cuts and some real revenues) that a) would significantly reduce the deficit and b) be palatable to a good 60% of the American electorate. Unfortunately, it isn't simply these two individuals but a bunch of hard-core and gerrymandered ideologues. That, me-buckos, is current American politics.