Yeah, that was low.
And yes, from my conversations with people, it's pretty much only preaching to the already converted.
Reagan was an especially low point in the political process - he IMO was the beginning of the Actor President - the charismatic figurehead who dupes the people into thinking everything is a-okay while his buddies loot the treasury. Bush rode in on his coattails, but got ousted by another Actor President - Clinton - and Clinton didn't even have enough coattails for Gore to come in behind him. Shrub is just another Actor-President.
I have no idea who comes next. McCain is making rumbling noises... But I don't know enough about him to say that I'd like him as President. I do know I would have rather seen McCain v.s. Bradley, but The Powers That Be guaranteed Bore versus Shrub...
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche