The parties have become so dominant in determining how individual members of Congress vote that it doesn’t really matter what the issue is. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about a stimulus plan, a budget, a confirmation of a Supreme Court justice – on almost every major issue now, all the Democrats are on one side; all the Republicans are on the other side. And it’s obvious that they’re not really analyzing the issue in terms of what information they’ve been able to get, what their own analysis is – but, ‘Where does my party stand? Because my goal here is to be true to my party, to defeat the other party. ’ And there is no way that you can actually manage a government of 300 million people with people in Congress or in state legislatures as well, who are unable and unwilling to really look at the issues in front of them, figure out what needs to be done and take the oath of office seriously.

Mickey Edwards on the negative influence of parties on American politics

Some of these Congressmen have districts along the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River has undergone terrible flooding in the last several months. So now, those congressmen have become very reliant on federal aid and federal agencies such as FEMA in ways they would have never imagined before.

— Journalist Robert Draper on some of the Tea Party members of Congress. [complete interview here]

Oh hey Mr Rogers.