Dem Gets Me Thinkin'

The resignation of Louisiana Dem, Sen. John Breaux deals a blow to the Dems who are attempting to gain a Senate majority. This in itself wouldn't be overly noteworthy except for this (emphasis mine):

But in his usually candid manner, Breaux, who is known as a negotiator willing to cross the aisle, indicated some disillusion with the Senate, saying Democrats are whip-sawed by liberal interest groups who oppose the prescription drug benefit in Medicare that he helped craft with the Bush White House.

"I have concerns about some of the things that are happening in the Congress. I think that we've become too polarized," Breaux told Fox News. "I think both sides spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about how to defeat the other side. I mean, Congress should not be like the Super Bowl, where you always have to have one team that's going to win and one team that necessarily has to lose."

I agree with that for sure. Breaux appears to be a Dem who is more centrist in his outlook, something that I find refreashing; something I wish I would find more of. On the presidential 2004 race, Breaux says:

"I mean if Howard Dean wants to take us back to the left and gets the nomination, I think that would be something that would be a defining moment. I think that that would not be the right way to go"

As conservative as I am, I believe that good governance in non-moral issues is a matter of give and take--compromise. Unfortunately, as a political party takes extreme positions--perhaps to court a particular demographic--it becomes difficult to compromise.