Just a vignette. GF sent me a link to a story she read on Yahoo News last night entitled "Why Americans are fleeing the GOP and Democrats". It is from "The Week," so you can surmise what you wish of the writer's motives.
It begins (all bolding mine):
More people than ever are identifying themselves as independents. What's driving them away from the major parties?
In 2011, a record-high 40 percent of Americans distanced themselves from Democrats and Republicans, instead identifying themselves as independents, according to a Gallup survey released Monday.
and, in the very next sentence, continues:
Democratic registration held steady at 31 percent last year, while GOP identification dropped from 29 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2011.
Yes, self-ID'd Dem registration is down from the election year of '08, but as the author admits, remained exactly the same in the year 2011, the period in which the same author claims both parties lost registration ground.
Love that balance. Coming up, stocks down sharply while the market gets a bounce and, in weather, look forward to heavy thunderstorms and sunny, clear skies.