Just curious: what are the positions of those Republicans you talk to on foreign policy, taxation, immigration, social spending, national health care, security issues, or the wars overseas? More along the lines of what I think, or more along the lines of what you think?

The things I pointed out were true. You can interpret them any way you like. "Power sharing" only becomes an issue to a party when that party doesn't hold down all the power themselves. I still remember the "power sharing" deals cut when the Democrats were down a couple of seats in the Senate. I don't remember anything like that in the decades of Democratic control previous to that.

"Moving to the center" might be a good idea in abstract, but as a Democratic battle cry, it's a crock. Lieberman--who would probably be the 2008 candidate right now if Gore had won in 2000--was a reliable liberal and loyal Democrat on almost every issue but one, where he moved in the other direction. He was frigging excommunicated.

You are, of course, free to show I'm wrong. A major Democratic figure speaking up in 1993 about the country moving too far to the left from the center, or too much power being in the hands of one party, might be a good example. Heck, ANY liberal complaining about the country moving too far to the left during ANY of the past thirty years would be good. It's like what I asked Art: Where exactly is the line drawn for Democrats that says, "enough, this is too far."

Frankly, I'm not sure where the average Democrat thinks the "center" actually is. Somewhere near where France or Sweden live, I think. One has to actually invoke places like Cuba or North Korea to get them to see anything to the far "left" of them.

To be fair, most people clear across the political spectrum usually seem to think "moderate" or "the center" is close to wherever they are.