"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
That statement isn't entirely true when talking about the present major U.S. political parties as whole "entities". I wasn't expecting to play the part of devil's advocate when talking about the Democratic Party. Rep. Collin Peterson, Rep. Charlie Melancon, Rep. Melissa Bean, and U.S. Senator Ben Nelson are four Democrats who don't have a liberal voting record no matter what people presently think of them. It will be interesting to see if these four continue to vote the same way after the Democrats become the Congressional majority next year. There are still many Democrats at every political level who vote with conservative Republicans on a variety of issues, and there are also many Democrats who end up switching parties and becoming Republicans while they are still in office. I'm also guessing that there are probably many more Democrats at every political level that become Republicans than there are Republicans at every political level that become Democrats.