The current president is literally both a Democrat and a Republican. The OP article was written in 2011. Not long before, maybe as recent as 2000, there was a

The current president is literally both a Democrat and a Republican. The OP article was written in 2011. Not long before, maybe as recent as 2000, there was a lot more so called "civility" in government, where most of the debate was pork barrel negotiations, not major party line votes on major legal upheavals. R and D worked together on things like handing ever more power to corporations and the military industrial complex, and diverting national wealth to the weathiest people.