Their approval ratings are so bad these days that even Congress hates Congress.
Sen. Lindsey Graham is so embarrassed about the 9 percent approval rating ? released Tuesday night in a New York Times/CBS poll ? that he?s going incognito.
Continue Reading?It?s so bad sometimes I tell people I?m a lawyer,? the South Carolina Republican told POLITICO on Wednesday. ?I don?t want to be associated with a body that in the eyes of your fellow citizens seems to be dysfunctional. It matters to me.?
?We?re below sharks and contract killers,? added freshman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).
Indeed, lawmakers themselves aren?t among the 9 percent who approve of their own work.
The record low approval ratings were met Wednesday with a mixture of shock, anger, sadness, frustration and wry gallows humor, with many lawmakers wondering who in their right mind would actually believe Congress is worthy of approval.
But in predictable partisan fashion, they blamed each other, President Barack Obama, the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the public?s failure to grasp how Congress is supposed to work, among other causes.
?I want to know who the 9 percent are, I?m afraid they have drivers? licenses,? quipped Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).
In spite of the jokes, the shockingly low congressional approval rating could become a drag on both Republican and Democratic incumbents ahead of next year?s elections.
It also puts even more pressure on the powerful deficit-slashing supercommittee to do something - anything - to break the political stalemate over slashing the U.S. budget deficit.
And the long-term effects of such negative numbers for Capitol Hill, and Washington in general, could prompt more voters to abandon party affiliation and register as independents, dramatically reshaping political campaigns, lawmakers suggested Wednesday.
Political operatives in both parties see opportunity as well. Republicans think they can grab control of the Senate in 2012, and Democrats are hopeful they can win back their House majority, swept away in the 2010 tea party tsunami. Such a double switch has never happened before in American history.
Still, some lawmakers believe that they?ll be fine politically since voters historically tend to stick with their own representatives even if Congress is tanking.
?That high?? joked Rep. John Larson (Conn.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said in response to the poll. ?It?s reflective of the public?s response to the quagmire that?s become Washington, D.C. Fourteen million people out of work, 25 million people that are [under-employed], they see Washington involved in an endless ?Tastes great, less filling? argument where nothing gets done.?
?It?s kind of like Tennessee football - it?s a hard season,? deadpanned Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a depressed alumnus of the University of Tennessee and backer of the troubled Volunteer football program.
While Congress has never been a popular institution in the eyes of the public, 2011?s nasty partisan battles between the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate - compounded with the $14 trillion-plus national debt and stubbornly high unemployment rate ? seem to have only made matters worse.
It is unlikely that the U.S. economy will get much better before voters go to the polls next November, meaning each party will aggressively make the case that the other is to blame. That means more partisan wrangling.
barry sanders tim allen enlightened enlightened stand and deliver sean hannity brian urlacher
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.