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ULTRAMAN VH
06-13-2007, 08:54 AM
Approval of Congress lowest in a decade
Only about a quarter of Americans approve of how it's doing its job, a poll shows; most see 'business as usual.'
By Noam N. Levey, Times Staff Writer
June 12, 2007


Just 27% of Americans now approve of the way Congress is doing its job, the poll found, down from 36% in January, when Democrats assumed control of the House and the Senate.

And 63% of Americans say that the new Democratic Congress is governing in a "business as usual" manner, rather than working to bring the fundamental change that party leaders promised after November's midterm election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the first woman to hold that position, has also failed to impress many Americans. Only 36% approve of the way she is handling the job, the poll found.

In contrast, 46% of Americans in the current poll said they approved of the way Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia handled the job after he led the GOP into the majority in 1994.

The poll also found continued public unhappiness with President Bush, whose approval ratings have been stuck below 40% since last year.

Public disappointment with Congress swelled before Republicans lost power in November. Democrats swept in on promises to end the war and tackle a host of popular domestic issues, including raising the minimum wage, reducing prices on prescription drugs, promoting stem cell research and ending corruption.

Although some Democratic initiatives have passed the House, few have won passage in the Senate, where the party has held the majority by one vote.

Bush and his Capitol Hill allies have thus far managed to block every Democratic attempt to force a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, much to the chagrin of Democrats around the country.

"They just haven't seemed to have gathered things together the way they should," said Martha Wilde, 81, a Democrat from Remer, Minn., who said she had been particularly disappointed in congressional Democrats' lack of progress confronting the Bush administration over the war.

"I think they should force them more," Wilde said.

A third of liberal Democrats, who constitute the party's base, approve of the job Congress is doing; 58% disapprove, the poll found.

That's a dramatic change from January, when a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that 43% of liberal Democrats approved of the job Congress was doing and 36% disapproved.

Representatives of Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats were undeterred by the public's anger.

"The American people are rightly frustrated with the ongoing war in Iraq, and Democrats will continue to work with Republicans to force the president to change direction in Iraq so our troops can come home and we can refocus our efforts on fighting terrorism," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

The poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday; 1,183 adults were surveyed by telephone. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
noam.levey@latimes.com

Ellyllions
06-13-2007, 09:01 AM
Congress has done SQUAT since the election. And the public knows it...


It's coming to pass that we're all getting fed up with being led to believe that a new politician will "change" anything. The amount of press coverage we're exposed to in this day and age equates to actual information that politicians can't hide from. Because we don't have to wait for the 6pm news broadcast, if DC isn't doing it's job we know about it sooner.

And we know about it.

Democrats vs. Republicans?
They're both the same in the end.

ULTRAMAN VH
06-14-2007, 06:32 PM
Originally posted by Ellyllions
Congress has done SQUAT since the election. And the public knows it...


It's coming to pass that we're all getting fed up with being led to believe that a new politician will "change" anything. The amount of press coverage we're exposed to in this day and age equates to actual information that politicians can't hide from. Because we don't have to wait for the 6pm news broadcast, if DC isn't doing it's job we know about it sooner.

And we know about it.

Democrats vs. Republicans?
They're both the same in the end.

Oh, I agree, both parties put on a real good show when they get media coverage and you see them bickering like school kids at recess. But in the end all they all want are the same things, money and power with some global domination thrown in for good measure. In the end, who do they use for these power grabs?? Of course, the hard working taxpayer.

FORD
06-14-2007, 07:59 PM
AIPAC has too much influence in Washington DC. They are the treasonous bastards preventing the end of this fucked up illegal war.

Fuck Likud Zionfascism. Let Israel defend their fucking selves for a while, and maybe they'll stop talking so much shit and thinking they're superior to their neighbors.

Ellyllions
06-14-2007, 08:36 PM
I'm all for letting Israel defend themselves, period.

This whole bullshit problem resolves down to a group of people who are unwilling to evolve. The whole world is trying to move forward with a damn ball and chain tagged to it's ankle.

If we were more like animals we'd run the whole Middle East out of the herd for the sake of the herd.

Nickdfresh
06-14-2007, 08:40 PM
And WHY do people disapprove with congress?

Rikk
06-14-2007, 08:40 PM
Originally posted by Ellyllions
I'm all for letting Israel defend themselves, period.

This whole bullshit problem resolves down to a group of people who are unwilling to evolve. The whole world is trying to move forward with a damn ball and chain tagged to it's ankle.

If we were more like animals we'd run the whole Middle East out of the herd for the sake of the herd.

Absolute fucking bullshit.

I'd love to see how your community would react if a giant group of you were ruled inferior and told to live behind walls. I'd also love to see how you would react if a group showed up at your house and claimed that many, many, many years ago, this land was owned by their people and thus you must give up your property.

This issue is far more two-sided than most would believe. In fact, the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that is primarily sympathetic to only one side...

People acting in a barbaric manner is not a product of genetic deformation. It is a product of being treated in a barbaric manner.

I've seen footage of an innocent family pulled out of their homes and a young son stood up in the street and shot before his home is looted by soldiers. Anyone who thinks this is a one-sided issue with only crazy Arabs being the problem is very ignorant.

Ellyllions
06-14-2007, 08:47 PM
I didn't say shit about Crazy Arabs or taking one side...

I'm talking about the lot of them who refuse not to use Barbarism in their daily routines.

I'm basically saying that I, Elly, ME am sick to death of trying to "save" (interpret how you want) people who don't want our help, assistance, or otherwise involvement.

And I'm entitled to feel that way thank you Rikk.

Rikk
06-14-2007, 08:56 PM
Originally posted by Ellyllions
I didn't say shit about Crazy Arabs or taking one side...

Oh really?


Originally posted by Ellyllions
I'm talking about the lot of them who refuse not to use Barbarism in their daily routines.

That's what you think the lot of Arabs are like? Thanks for proving my point with your simple racism.

Most Arabs are peaceful people, no less than anybody else, who simply want to live their peaceful lives without constant intervention from the outside nations that have oil interests and other "worries"...


Originally posted by Ellyllions
I'm basically saying that I, Elly, ME am sick to death of trying to "save" (interpret how you want) people who don't want our help, assistance, or otherwise involvement.

What have you done to save an Arab?

Do you call starting a war that has so far killed 600,000 civilians and jailed more than that trying to "help" someone?

What the hell has an Arab nation done to your home or your family?


Originally posted by Ellyllions
And I'm entitled to feel that way thank you Rikk.

Yep. And I'm entitled to sure as hell disagree with a bit of quiet racism.

Ellyllions
06-14-2007, 08:59 PM
Bullshit. You made of it what you wanted.

Because I don't approve of helping Israel, I'm racist against Arabs? What kind of fucking sense does that make?

Maybe you should've starting reading my posts before tonight to understand what I'm talking about.

Nope, I think we should get the fuck out of Iraq, let them fight it out amongst themselves and go help the people of Darfur.

Rikk
06-14-2007, 09:04 PM
Originally posted by Ellyllions
Bullshit. You made of it what you wanted.

Because I don't approve of helping Israel, I'm racist against Arabs? What kind of fucking sense does that make?

Maybe you should've starting reading my posts before tonight to understand what I'm talking about.

Nope, I think we should get the fuck out of Iraq, let them fight it out amongst themselves and go help the people of Darfur.

When you classify an entire people with the words "the lot of them" and "using Barbarism in their daily routines" and "people unwilling to evolve"...that's classifying an entire race in a negative manner... Racism. Pure and simple. Read your history...same comments used against various other groups: Tutsis, Armenians, Jews (usually "greed" or "impurity" was the Nazi excuse there, actually), and indeed, those being persecuted in Darfur.

I ask you again, what kind of help have we given the Iraqi people besides throwing their country into turmoil and being directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of 600,000 people?

I took nothing you said out of context. You said Israel had the right to defend themselves and then spewed out some racism about the Arab people in general. I called you on it.

As for your comments about Darfur, obviously I 100% agree with you there.

Rikk
06-14-2007, 09:05 PM
Originally posted by Nickdfresh
And WHY do people disapprove with congress?

No shit. Gee, I wonder why Congress is getting nothing done...

The same circular arguing...

Ellyllions
06-14-2007, 09:13 PM
Originally posted by Rikk
When you classify an entire people with the words "the lot of them" and "using Barbarism in their daily routines" and "people unwilling to evolve"...that's classifying an entire race in a negative manner... Racism. Pure and simple. Understand that YOU were the one that made the racist distinction in my post. I not once distinguished between Jews/Arabs. I said "the lot" meaning ANYONE. Now, who's got the Freudian finger pointing here?


I ask you again, what kind of help have we given the Iraqi people besides throwing their country into turmoil and being directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of 600,000 people?
And I don't answer again because my original response was in direct comment with "helping Israel".


I took nothing you said out of context. You said Israel had the right to defend themselves and then spewed out some racism about the Arab people in general. I called you on it.
You need to go back and re-read what I posted. You're wrong on all accounts. And I never mentioned Arabs once.


As for your comments about Darfur, obviously I 100% agree with you there.

I don't know why the fuck you're doing this. Today we agree. The war in Iraq has solved NOTHING.

Rikk
06-14-2007, 09:16 PM
Forget it. If you don't see what's inherently wrong with what you said, I won't convince you.

Re-read what you said and how it could be construed...

You can't talk about a "lot" of people, barbarism, refusing to change their ways of life, etc...and then not understand when someone reads it as racism and disagrees with you.

Fuck it.

Nickdfresh
06-15-2007, 04:51 PM
Originally posted by Rikk
No shit. Gee, I wonder why Congress is getting nothing done...

The same circular arguing...

And the fact that the main complaint is that Congress is unable to extricate us from Iraq, a fact that some of these shallow right-wing mouth breathers would rather not discuss...

Guitar Shark
06-15-2007, 05:07 PM
Originally posted by Nickdfresh
And the fact that the main complaint is that Congress is unable to extricate us from Iraq,

True to a point. Congress does control the purse, however.

Nickdfresh
06-15-2007, 10:24 PM
True. But the Democrats in Congress do not have the votes to override a veto...