As Inigo Montoya said, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

In this case, I am talking about the term, “checks and balances.” All of a sudden, Republicans are worried about Democratic control of the White House and both houses of Congress. Gee, after all that time when Congress acted as a rubber stamp to George Bush, and NOW they are worried. They handed Bush a blank check that allowed him to do pretty much anything he wanted to. Republicans at the time believed that it was their solemn duty to vote Yes on whatever Bush wanted. However, they really need to go buff up on the material they should have learned in their 8th grade civics class. “Checks and balances” is not talking about between political parties. It’s talking about between the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial branches of the federal government. And that’s regardless of which political party controls each of those branches, something the Republican party seems to have forgotten completely. It is impossible, it seems, for Republicans to view any issue outside the prism of "Us vs. Them."

Duh.