Yeah Raoul, Davin, Don, and Mary-Anne I'm just soooo loyal to Bush.

I've been burned by unconsciously pigeon-holing you, too, and nowadays I've learned to read your posts more carefully to try and ensure that I'm not letting unconscious assumptions distort what I think you're saying. You get points for commendable inconsistency...

I do think some of these politicians have lost touch with the middle class and believe that what's good for those at the top is good for everyone else.

That's an inevitable result of being a high government official (of the elected or unelected varieties). They hobnob with movers-and-shakers, both in the legitimate conduct of their work and in campaigning for themselves or their political patrons. It's hard to stay in touch with the middle class when you're constantly moving in the top strata of society.

People tend to forget that Dick Cheney wasn't always filthy rich. For most of his career he was your basic governmental spear-carrier, as an aide then low-level functionary, a couple of terms in Congress, then ending up at the Cabinet level in Bush the First's Administration. It was only after he retired from government that he could cash in and collect on all the favors he'd done for the monied-class over the years. Cheney's the classic case study in how government service (almost) inevitably corrupts.