This is sad and well deserved.  When people have no faith in their government, then that government is in danger of being overtaken by a demagogue - either through force or through elected means.

If congress were more interested in solving problems than in winning political battles, then there would be greater confidence in it.

Of course, all this can be solved by voting for me, Phil Snyder, for benevolent dictator in 2008.

YBIC,
Phil Snyder

I’m no statistician, at best I’m an armchair political pundit, and I really do think that polls of Congress’ job approval are largely meaningless, BUT, I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that this new low reflects a combination of two things: conservatives who will of course indicate a lack of support for a Democrat controlled congress, and liberals who think that Pelosi and Reid aren’t being liberal enough.

Seems to me that the bottom line is, “YOU GOT WHAT YOU VOTED FOR.”  I did not, because I did not vote that way.  It is however appearing more and more that either side is not that much better than the other.  It is sort of becoming a which is the lesser of the evils?

Let me start by saying as a person from the progressive end of the pew, I find Pelosi and Reid to be supremely underwhelming - just Dem versions of McConell & Boehner.

My disappointment in Congress is how little accountability they have forced on the Bush Regime.  Thde most obvious example is the civil war in Iraq - the Dems ran promising change.  The country now is struggling to see the “surge” as that change.  On the domestic front, it is clear that the Justice dept is simply an arm of the Karl Rove / GOP machine - where is Freddo ?  Still in office.  And the GOP, the party of big business & small gov’t, has presided over the largest spike in deficit spending in modern history.

Count me as someone who sees the storm clouds of a sea change election in 18 months.

My disappointment in Congress is how little they achieved in holding members accountable, the “most ethical congress ever” rhetoric we heard during the elections has turned out to be just so much more hot air.  First Jefferson, then the senior senator from California was allowed to quietly resign her position on her oversight committee when it became know that her husband personally benefited from a number of her votes related to military spending, and the overall leadership is hiding markups to the last minute, assuring that no one has time to examine the pork products they’re hiding in nearly everything, including the monies that were voted to support the military in Iraq.

What a load of ...  The Dems in power are just as corrupt as the previous leadership.  IMHO, that’s why their ranking is so low.

MD Brian

Bob,

BTW, Clinton fired the entire justice department staff when he took office, including those actively involved in the WhiteWater development corruption probe.  You sure you want to open the door by comparing actions of the justice departments under the previous administration?  Can anyone say Waco or a little kid from Florida forced to return to Cuba, prodded along by MP5 totting FBI agents?

I think the average American isn’t as stupid as either party assumes.

MD Brian

MD Brian, you sure know your talking points.

New presidents tend to fire their US attorneys at the onset of their administration, just like church staffs with a new rector.

What Atty Generals rarely do is lie - flat out lie - to Congress and the American people.  In words that the average American certainly understands, one senator said “The communication was atrocious. It was inconsistent—it’s generous to say that there were misstatements; it’s a generous statement. And I believe people ought to suffer the consequences that these others have suffered.”

That is from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma - the most conservative Senator currently among the 100.

As for Janet Reno, I thought she was worthless as an AG.  Now John Ashcroft - he soared on eagle’s wings !

Representative democracy is a one-way trip downhill.  But really, there’s no way to effectively and accountably govern a nation of 300 million people.

I think the best thing that happened for the near term future of the Republican Party was the election of a Democrat controlled Congress.  The country is getting to see what the Dems are all about and my hunch is the public is not very happy with them.

David,

Agreed.  They have an opportunity to lead.  Thus far they haven’t.  So it goes ...

MD Brian

I told my progressive friends that the worst thing that could happen to the Demoacratic Party would be to win Congress in 2006, because they would have only slim majorities and thus able to do little more than to issue subpoenas to Administration officials.  It would also give the GOP something concrete—a Hillary-Nancy biumvirate—to rally against in the 2008 presidential election.  Then again, I told my conservative friends that the worst thing that could happen to the GOP would be to retain Congress in 2006, because that would have meant there were no consequences for ramming traditional GOP positions (i.e., limited and responsible government, lower spending, federalism, etc.) into the ground.

Nothing in the Constitutions says when a President can fire and re-appoint members of his staff or those who serve at his pleasure.  A President can clean house at the beginning, middle or end of his adminstration. It is one of the priveleges of Office.
President Bush did nothing wrong in firing select U.S. Attorneys.

That should be “Constitution”—singular—in the fist sentence. Not plural. Sorry.

library jim,

As the chief lawyer of the US government, the AG has an obligation to tell the truth.  It’s not that hard or too much to expect, is it ?  During histestimony on April 19, Gonzales stated 71 times that he couldn’t recall events related to the events that took place 3 months before.

At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to U.S. Congress as well as the President, but this had stopped by 1819 on account of the workload involved.  Fredo clearly has decided not to adhere to this change.

Now there is an interesting concept: an honest lawyer.

#14
If congress decided that any cabinet level officer was worthless as an executive agent, then they can defund his agency, right down to cutting his salary.  They can also cite him for contempt of congress if he actually lies or obstructs oversight processes without a formal claim of executive privilege. But this congress sat by and took Gonzalez’s testimony without doing anything concrete about it. So, perhaps their objections were not very concrete as well? Look at the results of the whole thing and all is left are subjective interpretations, such as yours.