on the other hand, if rand paul was pres and paul krugman was in the senate, i don't think you'd see a lot of krug the non-partisan reaching across the aisle. why? because paul krugman has extremely definite views on things like tax policy or deficit spending. he'd want to represent those views, as well he should. he'd want to keep the country from going down a disastrous path, etc. i think non-partisanship makes sense in many situations or for some figures, and many of these pin-heads (and here i would include pelosi, for example, as well as mcconnell) are ultimately wedded to their own aggrandizement, or have lost all sense of anything except loyalty to and power for their party. but there is also principled partisanship, important partisanship, partisanship that is central to a representative system.