11 percent approval rating for Congress. ELEVEN PERCENT.

[derby378]

As Bill Maher said, Congress' approval rating is currently hovering between "rectal itch" and that guy on MySpace crying for us to "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!"

Does Herr Decider have something on all these people? Even Jim Webb, whose own voting record doesn't look that much different from George Allen's?!?

[jobycom]

1. Yeah, but it's the top 11 percent.

:rofl:

[derby378]

2. And boy, did we get fucked over...

"New Direction for America? Dang, son, we were just fucking with you..."

[Totally Committed]

27. You can say THAT again!

They WERE just fucking with us. I can't believe how badly we got "taken".

TC

[Pirate Smile]

3. Republicans give Congress a higher approval rating then Democrats.

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28741

[Liberalynn]

4. It's because a lot of them are acting like the Repukes, so of

course Repukes are going to like them. I am still voting Democrat, but I think we need to get some who don't stand with us, out in the primaries.

[0rganism]

7. GOP support for the Democrat-led congress DOUBLED in a month. Wow.

This graph should be shoved under Rep. Pelosi's nose for further inspection.

"Yes, your approval rate is definitely approving by significant margins... AMONG REPUBLICANS!" :grr:

[kenny blankenship]

18. There are still Republicans in that congress, not as many as before

but the ones that are left have done a bang up job of making the Democrats look like idiots and liars. So naturally Republican approval of Congress is rising. Their congressional reps are kicking ass.

[dflprincess]

5. And yet Pelosi and Reid still don't get it

n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. Anthrax?

:shrug: It worked so well after 9/11. Never mind that we Democrats have a slim majority. We wouldn't expect that the "main stream media" would report that, would we?

[derby378]

9. That's a piss-poor excuse...

Why bother getting elected if you're gonna huddle under your desk in fear all the time?

[karynnj]

8. The problem is that it is the entire Congress

It is sickening that the Republicans are obstructing everything. Everything takes 60 votes - I think a lot of people are just angry. They see the government is not working and they are mad at it.

[Marr]

16. The Republicans aren't being forced to filibuster, and the Dems aren't

using their power to set the agenda. They determine what gets to the floor for a vote, so all this crap about 60 votes is nothing but a flimsy excuse.

[karynnj]

24. The Democrats can' t stop the Republicans from filibustering

and in the SENATE they do not control everything that comes to the floor.

[Marr]

26. They can make them *actually* filibuster.

They're accepting the simple of threat of a filibuster as a filibuster. They're making it way too easy-- not to mention stealthy-- for the Republicans to stop everything they don't like.

Make them actually get out there and filibuster every time they threaten to, and they'll pay a political price for doing so. They'll look like obstructionists and they'll be far less likely to do it. But that's not what's happening.

The Dem leadership is making obstructionist practices as easy as possible.

[DireStrike]

30. Yes, at least waste their time like they're wasting ours.

Clinton on the daily show the other night - "reps have to spend all their time fund-raising and are constantly sleep deprived."

Every minute a republican is on the floor filibustering is another minute he's not fundraising.

[karynnj]

32. The way anyone filibusters now is to demand a cloture vote

before voting on an issue - that vote is filibustering. The rules changed since Mr Smith went to Washington.

[Marr]

36. That's what I'm referring to. Reid can force them to actually filibuster.

This "gentleman's agreement" on filibusters is relatively new and only there for the sake of expediency. It's become a major hindrance to the majority party and should be done away with, assuming the majority party doesn't actually *want* to be obstructed.

[Toots]

25. They don't need sixty votes to not fund things

Democrats need to stop all government until subpoenas are answered.. No more money for war period....,

[karynnj]

35. The problem there is that they do not have 41 people

who would vote against each funding bill. If all the Democratic bills failed and they refused to write one that Bush would like, the Republicans would bring one to the floor and it would get 60 votes - because we do not have 41 people willing to defund the war.

The highest we had for an alternitive linked to withdrawal deadlines was 52 - but that was for withdrawing over a year - not al of them would vote for defunding.

[Toots]

37. Everything has to clear through committee

Republicans can't just bring a bill to the floor. It has to be allowed on the floor by the majority. If the bill is not allowed on the floor there can be no vote..

[valerief]

10. I'm not gonna care until the rating is 9/11%. nt

[Gloria]

11. Richard Wolfe on Olbermann tonight observed that the Democrats have failed and

that Bush has done far better than anyone could have thought on Iraq.

He said if they can't win anything in Congress, they have to start positioning themselves for the next election.

The corruption report is what the Dems should be bringing up....said he couldn't figure out why Harry Reid had allowed that
Petraeus thing to come up...

[deacon]

12. They deserve it. Broken promises and the PR skills. Vote the

bums out.

[Booster]

13. Congress moves at a snail's pace on even the most obvious

things, and didn't I read that they only work about 94 days out of the year? How long have they been investigating the lawyer firings? FOREVER. The fastest they've ever done anything is the vote on the MoveOn ad. Jesus, if we all worked like that, we would be fired in no time.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Gee, I wonder why? All smoke, no fire.

[Disturbed]

15. Speaker of the House & Senate need to be replaced.

Both of them are wimps.

[Marr]

17. The fact is that the party establishment has decided they'll do better in 2008 if

they let the occupation continue, and let other Bush policies keep people angry. The idiots think it'll cast the GOP in a bad light, but not the Democrats. They seem to be laboring under the illusion that their base is as stupid as the GOP base. It isn't.

[EFerrari]

23. We have a winner here!

:(

[backscatter712]

19. I think Congress is getting blackmailed.

There can't be any other explanation.

Everyone here is wondering why Pelosi and Reid "just don't get it." The fact is they do get it. They know exactly what the people want, but they're not doing it. Even though it's causing them to play approval rating limbo, they're still doing exactly the opposite of what they know the people want.

Maybe it's anthrax, maybe the Rovian machine has dirt on them, maybe they're getting kickbacks from the corporocracy.

[rucky]

21. There's another explanation, but you don't want to hear it.

they. don't. care.

[Individualist]

28. ...and another

they.are.complicit.

Let's just look at the cold, hard facts about the DLC and its record. The DLC has pushed, among other things, the war in Iraq and "free" trade policies, using bags of corporate money to buy enough Democratic votes to help Republicans make those policies a reality. They have chastised anyone who has opposed those policies as either unpatriotic or anti-business -- even as a majority of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq, oppose the DLC's business-written trade deals, and are sick of watching America's economy sold out to the highest corporate bidder. Additionally, in brazenly Orwellian fashion, the DLC has also called its extremist agenda "centrist," even though polls show the American public opposes most of their agenda, and supports much of the progressive agenda. http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0727-32.htm

The progressive movement has not just threatened this message monopoly -- it is undoing it. Through MoveOn, the rise of popular documentaries, blogs, think tanks, etc. It's not just that we talk about real values and innovative strategies. It's because we're talking, period, that the centrists feel threatened.

Hence the DLC's vicious attempts to discredit the movement. And that's what they want. They don't seek to win an argument over policy. They seek to destroy the credibility of their opponents and restore their message monopoly. http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=721

This is why the DLC is dangerous. For all their claims of supposedly wanting to help Democrats, they employ people like Marshall Wittman who specifically try to undermine the Democratic Party, even if it means he has to publicly defecate out the most rank and easily-debunkable lies. They reguarly give credence to the right wing's agenda and its worst, most unsupportable lies. They are the real force that tries to make sure this country is a one party state and that Democrats never really challenge the Republicans in a serious way. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/why-the-dlc-is-so-dangero_b_13640.html

"The Democratic Leadership Council's agenda is indistinguishable from the Republican Neoconservative agenda," http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Kucinich_DLC_agenda_undistinguishable_from_Neocon_0813.html

DLC Watch, the wicked shall not escape justice http://dlcwatch.blogspot.com

Without a doubt, the DLC is the most fundamentalist organization within the caucus, the most ideologically rigid, and the most destructive to the progressive cause.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/24/1712/23448

These DLC types are amazing, they really are. Their pathology is unique; they all secretly worship the guilt-by-association tactics of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, but unlike those two, not one of them has enough balls to take being thought of as the bad guy by the general public.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11275627/the_low_post_democrats_walk_themselves_to_the_gallows

[NuttyFluffers]

20. "Freedom's just another word for 'nothing left to lose,'"

gee Congress, what'cha gonna do with all this new found freedom? :think:

[TahitiNut]

22. I like "rectal itch" better. At least I can scratch - or use Preparation H.

Congress has no such direct action that yields relief or improvement.

[DireStrike]

31. Ditto

Homer: Come on, Flanders, there's gotta be something you hate. What
about mosquito bites?

Ned: Mmm mmm! Sure are fun to scratch! Mmm! Satisfying!

[orpupilofnature57]

29. Some one yesterday on D.U. wanted to condescend as to the " Acumen "

of Nancy Pelosi.

[leftchick]

33. thay do not give a shit

it is all about the money.

[wellst0nev0ter]

34. There's No Other Way To Say It

These morons have triangulated themselves into a position where NOBODY likes them.

mazeltov.