An empirical question: do you get visibly different personality profiles in the Democratic Ruling-Class Political Machine as compared to the Republican Ruling-Class Political Machine?

It seems, a priori, like you should.  The native culture of the ruling class is very, ah, Blue Tribe.  Young politicos of both parties come out of elite colleges and elite law schools and prestigious public sector internships…but all these things are, as conventionally understood, factories for Democrats.  Coming out of that context and deciding to be a high-profile agent of the Democratic Party seems like it says something very different about you, in terms of personal predilections and personal virtues, than coming out of that context and deciding to be a high-profile agent of the Republican Party.

I’d imagine that you get a lot more fanaticism, conventionality, and self-delusion amongst the Dems.  (“I’m buffing my resume, and kicking competitors down the ladder, for the good of the nation!”) I’d imagine that you get a lot more naked cynicism and status-grubbing amongst the Repubs.  (They can’t all be Ross Douthat fish-out-of-water types; presumably many of the rest are the sort who just want a fast route to power and prestige, and can see that the queues are a lot shorter in Republican Leadership Land?) 

But I have no actual knowledge.  And the common stereotypes, at least, suggest that these are in fact very similar groups of people.

Eh?