Are they that bad or are we being played?

[Hippo_Tron]

31. The Republican Party can't unite its troops unless foreign policy is a major issue

This has been true pretty much since Eisenhower and Goldwater and particularly true since Raygun. The money conservatives will always be at odds with the Jesus conservatives over core issues and these issues take center stage during times when foreign policy isn't at the forefront of the American public's minds. But the Republican Party has been pretty united in its hawkishness (save for a few Ron Paul types) and all sides will compromise their issues during a crisis or war because they fundamentally believe that their guy can lead the country against America's enemies better than the Democrats can.

Democrats are the exact opposite. We have both hawks and doves in our party and every time there's a crisis or a war, we're usually pretty divided, ESPECIALLY if our guy is in charge.

History is a pretty good guide to this. Nixon and Reagan came into office when foreign policy was a decisive issue. Bush I came into office because of it as well, although it was less important than it was in 1980 and he got a lot of help from Dukakis being a total fuck-up. In 1992 he had his ass handed to him even though he drastically out-classed Clinton in the foreign policy arena because the country cared more about domestic issues. And in 2000 Gore won when there was relative peace and calm in the world. Of course the Supreme Court handed that one to some other dickwad.