The One Hundred and Twelfth - Who Broke Congress?

excerpted from an
Article first published as Is Congress Broken? - Revisited on Technorati.

 Senator Jeff Bingaman(D) and Senator Olympia Snowe(R) sat down with Gwen Ifill of the PBS News Hour for a frank discussion on why they are leaving.

Wrote a rhyme the other day that asked; Is Congress broke?

I said yes and blamed the Members.  Maybe I misspoke...

In a recent interview, The PBS News Hour

Sat down with 2 Senators resigning seats of power;

(Bingaman, New Mexico, and Snowe who comes from Maine)

Asked them if they feared that Congress might have grown insane.

Snowe - and boy, I love her - said that when we won't elect

People who will compromise, what else do we expect?

I had never thought of that before.  I think she's right.

Every campaign ad I've seen in any election fight

Always makes an issue of some vote the other guy

Sided with opponents on - imply that he would lie.

But, with checks and balances, that's what they're s'posed to do;

Start from basic principles...  Agree to bend a few.

These days we're so polarized that maybe we forgot

In a good democracy the middle ground is sought.

Yet, we're in a pickle for the people on the Hill

Can't agree on anything and, right now, no one will

Step across a party line in an election year.

It would just sneak up behind and bite them on the rear.