They shut down the government during Clinton's term. You can't get much more of an impasse than that.

Political parties make this inevitable. Madison’s original scheme was to balance power between branches of government, not between political parties. (Note that the constitution never mentions parties … ever.) Branches of government are better suited to balance because they can’t be defeated. Parties can overwhelm each other, but branches can’t. There will still be a president and a Congress, no matter who wins elections. That forces cooperation, whereas parties force division. Madison had a great scheme, but we haven’t used it since Jefferson stopped talking to Adams.

Game theory reveals how political parties work, and game theory predicts every lesson we see played out in Washington. Political parties always hold out the hope that if they overwhelm the opposition, they can impose decisions without interference. That thirst for unopposed power is what drives political parties to resist cooperation. The parties think that if they can hold ranks, and form a unified bloc, they can win all the branches. In every election, they hope to be the winner-take-all. Of course, game theory shows that when perfect unanimity is required, each individual acquires veto power over the whole. (Thus, Republicans resent John McCain.) Unity breaks down. And when parties don’t win everything, they try to hold ranks until the next election, undermining their opponents at every chance, like now. Carville and Begala live for this. All that matters is the next election; governing will have to wait.

The irony is that the thirst for unopposed power drives the parties into equilibrium. The back and forth flow eventually creates a stasis. Now they’re stuck in cement, and they can’t break out. So they spit at each other. That’s all they have left. Harry Smith and Bob Schieffer have been seeing this for decades. It's inevitable.

I hope I live long enough to see the day when the media is really somewhat fair and balanced.

Just somewhat would be nice.

I am ready to scream with these leftists enemies within patting each other on the backs....

Vietnam has been the secret code word used over and over and over to achieve their goals...problem is they do not realize there are a lot of us out here that remember the media well and how they used it for their agenda...how our men were treated ect...well they achieved their agenda with Cronkite leading the way, the venues are different now with communication, they are too blind to see it.

Fools, communistic fools.

Speaking of the Impeachment Tim, it strikes me that the media should remember from time to time who created that mess. While there was and will always continue to be a lively debate about the politics of the proceedings vs. the mood (politics) of the media (here-in-after the mood of the people), perhaps no one said it better than the much adored, by the media, Sen. Robert Byrd, D., W.VA. His comments on the floor of the Senate addressing the Chief Justice (my bold): 

..A few years ago, when my youngest grandson, who now is a Ph.D. in physics, was just a little tot, he came up to my den and looked around and said, `Papa, who made this mess?'

Now, Senators who made this mess? The mess was created at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The House of Representatives didn't make it. The U.S. Senate didn't make it. But, nevertheless, we sit here today in judgment of a President...

Note: Byrd is loved, and sought out, by the media when he speaks against Bush; however, when he spoke out aginst Clinton the media did not know that he was alive. Same for war. When Byrd spoke in favor of US military action (Iraq, Kosovo, etc.) during the Clinton years; often calling for unilateral US action, while critizing the rest of the world, especially Europe, the media ignored him. As soon as Bush came to town, Byrd became a pacifist and an avid Bush hater -- and yes, the media found him.