The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

There is a reason why when I write political satire, I typically focus on the Republican Party, and it's exactly the reason given by the centrist, bi-partisan, well-respected longtime political observers Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein in a recent article. As was outlined in the tandem's book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism , "...The Republicans are worse..." Before going into further detail about the two men's commentary, allow me to give readers some brief background on them. Thomas Mann is a centrist who has worked for about three decades as a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution (also centrist). Norman Ornstein, who has worked at the American Enterprise Institute (conservative-leaning) and is also a congressional scholar - has worked with Mann on tracking Congress since 1978. So, no - these are not two left-wing ideologues looking to place the Republican Pa...