We have to sit down together for the sake of the country.

Question: Is the American political system broken?

John McCain: I think the system is under strain, and we’re seeing a manifestation of that in the rise of the independent voter registration. I think the political system, if you look at here in Washington from the governing standpoint, it’s clearly broken. We’re gridlocked on every issue. We fail to address issues of irresponsible spending, or Medicare, Social Security. And we don’t do any of the hard things. We spend . . . We’re in a continuous battle over the war in Iraq, and partisanship and bitterness is probably as high a level as I’ve seen it in all my years here.