Congress Sucketh Deeply

As if we didn't all know this already, Congress' approval numbers make Bush look pretty damned popular.  Rasmussen kindly puts numbers to the obvious (h/t The Jawa Report):

Approval of Congress' job performance is down to single digits again for the first time since early September.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters found that only nine percent (9%) give Congress good or excellent ratings, while 54% give the legislature poor marks. Just one-out-of-50 voters (2%) think Congress is doing an excellent job.

The last time the ratings were this low was on September 9. In late November, 12% gave Congress good or excellent ratings. This is now the fifth time congressional ratings have fallen below 10% since June 1.

Since the election when Democrats grew their majorities in both the House and Senate, Congress has been in the news struggling unsuccessfully to pass an unpopular bailout plan for the Big Three automakers.

Someone needs to tell them the first rule of holes: when you're in one, STOP DIGGING!!!  Here are some comparisons that I think are interesting.  See if you pick up the same theme I get:

Even only 14% of Democratic voters rate the performance of the Congress led by their own party as good or excellent, compared to five percent (5%) of Republicans and six percent (6%) of unaffiliated voters. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Democrats say the legislators are doing a poor job, and 69% of Republicans and 63% of unaffiliateds agree.

Despite everyone saying Congress sucks, Reps and Indies are about twice as likely to acknowledge reality as Dems.  Hmm...guess who drinks the Kool-Aid?  Now, here are some really depressing numbers:

Forty percent (40%) of Republicans view most Congress members as corrupt, along with 36% of unaffiliated voters and 28% of Democrats. Forty-four percent (44%) of Democrats do not see most members that way, and 38% of Republicans and 34% of unaffiliated voters agree.

A separate Rasmussen survey released last week found that voters view politicians as being more corrupt than CEO's of major corporations by a 48% to 25% margin. The majority (59%) also believe President-elect Barack Obama should make government ethics reform a top agenda item when he assumes office next year.

The latest survey found that just 14% of voters believe members of Congress are more interested in helping people than their own careers, down from 23% in November. Most voters (71%) say the opposite.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans, 54% of Democrats and 79% of unaffiliated voters say most members of Congress are more interested in helping their own political careers. Six percent (6%) of GOP voters and nine percent (9%) of unaffiliateds think members of Congress are most interested in helping people, compared to 24% of Democrats.

Thirteen percent (13%) of voters say Congress has passed legislation to significantly improve life in America, but 60% say the opposite. Still, 57% say it is at least somewhat likely that Congress will address serious issues facing our nation in the near future, although 39% say it is unlikely.

Pretty grim stuff about the character of our leaders, especially if you're one of those leaders.  Of course, this begs the obvious question: if Americans think Congress is so bad, WHY DO THEY KEEP VOTING FOR THE INCUMBENTS?!  I confess this befuddles me.

If people think Congress sucks, they should summarily vote OUT any incumbent possible, every chance they get.  I realize this puts the handful of good people at risk, but ultimately it will give us far fewer really bad representatives, and the informed voters will help keep the good ones in place.  We've got to do something to shake people out of this unaccountability malaise that is infecting our voting public, or our leaders will run our country right off the ledge.

Finally, I'd like to make one last point about that very first section of the Rasmussen article.  Our current Congress (and especially the one coming in) has been infested with liberals on both sides of the aisle.  It has given up all pretense at fiscal responsibility, it has ignored laws on the books, it is rife with corruption, and it sees no problem in trashing our military during a time of war.  All of these things are very Left-leaning attributes.  Look again at how many people there are who think Congress is doing an 'excellent' job - 2%.  Just two percent of this country is the radical, crazy Left fringe!  And yet, somehow, they're the ones running this country...!  Everyone is entitled to their opinion on how this nation should be run, of course, but when you have a crazy 2% fringe controlling a country that is 60% conservative, there is a very serious problem with the truth, with the communication of that truth, and with the ignorance and/or complacency of the majority.

This needs to be corrected, and fast.  It starts with you, informing yourself - by reading this, you're well on the way!  Now, go spread the word.

There's my two cents.