Krystal Ball Quotes

We've had a tone-deaf White House that does not want to be reasonable. President Obama won't meet with the Republicans. It's all his way.

I think reconciliation is Obama's goal - but the fight with the Republicans is like a fight with pit bulls, they never let go. Even worse, now the Republicans feel they can keep pushing and he will keep giving. They have not seen a stiff resistance on his part.

I think that what is truly unfortunate is when an entire party makes a decision that they're going to block every single thing that a president wants to accomplish. It's very - it's very hard to get anything done in those circumstances.

The middle in Congress is gone now. That is where we got most things done.

I never heard the word 'compromise' used. So I'm starting to believe that these terms only come into play to try and force Republicans to do what the Democrats want.

We need less bipartisanship in Congress.

We've clearly seen that Tea Party Republicans are willing to take our economy hostage just to score political points, but I'm not willing to do that.

What happens in the Senate is the Republicans sink to the lowest common denominator.

So the - the part of the problem is not just the rhetoric. It's the fact that we - we're so polarized in what we've done to each other as parties over the last thirty years in redistricting that it's very, very hard to overcome your own constituencies and move to the middle.

Republicans have been losing the war of words for years now. Now they are just caving because they don't even want to try. I don't agree with that approach.

What did Republicans get for 16 days of a government shutdown with people being hurt? We have absolutely nothing to show for it, other than a damaged brand.

I've never seen a constructive Social Security debate that started with one side digging in, in one place and another side digging into another.

Republicans believed that their job was not governing but blocking any idea coming from President Obama and the Democrats, and wiping out Democrats in the 2012 election.

The Republican Party was threatening to close down the government and hassling President Obama about his birth certificate when he is trying to get Osama bin Laden.

My definition of bipartisanship is Democrats agreeing with Republicans

In this political climate, there is no possibility of passing anything comprehensive.

In our political system it’s easier to block action than to act.

“If we don’t get our way, we will shut the Government down.” You and that attitude is a luxury this country cannot afford.

The wheels of compromise lose traction as Congress sinks into an ooze of dysfunction.

Unfortunately, our country has become so politically polarized that one side routinely attempts to destroy and discredit the other.

For nearly three years, President Obama devoted a great deal of effort to finding compromises with Congressional Republicans. That was futile, in my view, since those Republicans had made it clear from the day he was inaugurated in 2009 that their plan was to oppose everything he wanted and then paint him as a failed president.

People who truly represent an extreme on either side have a very difficult time getting bipartisan support for what they're doing.

Redistricting and a broken, polarized Congress have made it tough to be a moderate in Congress.

With gridlock the norm, Congress's approval rating is below 10 percent and the public has lost faith in its national leadership.

Unfortunately, the Senate Democrats have become an extreme party. They have become a party that has abdicated their responsibilities. Under Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats, we have a do-nothing Senate.