Übergeek 바둑이: I think that you are right. It cuts across party lines. I do believe you see more of it on the liberal side but it's not exclusively theirs. However, it's the climate in Washington that's really to blame. I don't think all politicians enter Washington that way. But they learn to play the game and learn what it takes to get things done. Along the way, they get taken advantage of and eventually they look and sound like everyone else in DC. I suppose there has to be some level of the sort of thing we're discussing (in order to get things done in DC) but often the lines of decency not only get blurred, they are blantenly crossed. A thousand excuses follow.