After Republicans lost their majority in Congress in 2006, their leadership decided to sabotage the people’s business with procedural delays. Their reasoning? If they blocked all progress and Dems didn’t have any accomplishments, the Repubs could run against Dem incompetence in 2008. That might sound shaky to you, but John Boehner, the House Republican Leader, embraced the concept.

An example? In May 2008, after the House voted unanimously—412 to 0—to pass a Mother’s Day resolution “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States,” 178 mindless Republican robots clanked slowly up to change their votes: Against the mothers!

The result? American voters were not fooled by those sophomoric hi-jinks. They might not have held Dem competence in particularly high regard, but they recognized that Repubs were worse in the 2008 elections.