Interesting polls lately; apparently both Democrats and Republicans alike want to replace every member of Congress. By overwhelming responses.

Of course, none of that matters. Most Congressional approval ratings are pure fantasy because you only vote for your Senators and your Representative. And polls generally show that voters like their Senators and Representative by amounts that match election results.

Basically, it’s the 98 other Senators and 434 other Reps we seem to hate, and there is precious little we can do about that. As a result, Congressional approval ratings are usually in the ‘Puter no-no hole.

Island Dweller comments accordingly:

Your imperial majesty:

An interesting juxtaposition of articles in the media this morning. Remember, for the second half of this screed, “Congress” can be applied to both houses.

Jim Vandehei/Mike Allen
Politico “Behind the Curtain”
7-24-13:
Barack Obama, to hear his advisers tell it, has finally found The One he has been looking for: John McCain….

McCain, to hear fellow Republicans tell it, has finally found The Two he has needed to make such conversations worth the bother: Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who can actually get things done in the Senate, and Denis McDonough, a White House chief of staff who actually cares what senators say and think and do.

They would never say it this way, but they have cracked a code that has eluded party leaders — their bosses — who seem stuck in never-ending fights.

[H]e (McCain) can reliably count on seven to 10 GOP senators to back him, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

Schumer said that while White House officials have always had to return Democrats’ calls, “sometimes you got the feeling … they didn’t really want to.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham urged Schumer to make sure McCain joined the Gang of Eight working on immigration reform.

“The real test,” says McCain, “will be this fall.”

You bet your bean sprouts it will be.

Fortunately, the electorate seems to have something of a handle on these morons:

From the “Yahoo News” home page, 7-24-13:

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls finds that in addition to setting new milestones for futility, Congress is also more hated than it’s ever been. A full 83 percent of respondents say they disapprove of the job Congress is doing, the highest number for that questions since the poll began. (The last time it was even above 50 percent was in 2002.)

This awareness seems to coincide with a sense of futility, however:

Fifty-seven percent say both that their own representative should step aside and that if they had the option on the ballot to replace every single member of Congress they would do it, another record high for both questions. Yet, when they were given a chance to make some changes in 2012, they basically passed.

By the way, this percentage (83%) for Congress is far and away above the President’s, whose approval rating continues to hover around 43 to 45%. He’s still managing to disassociate himself from his policies in front of the voters, with the help of a compliant media, and the Republican leadership has made no truly concerted effort to force him to publicly acknowledge ownership of them.

The electorate probably feels as they do in part because they apparently see little difference between what their parties offer them in the way of new candidates, and those already in office. The same party bosses who choose the candidates remain in place, after all. There is a lot for the Tea Party and conservative Republicans to do here, and one senses only time will handle a lot of it, as the party bosses age and assume room temperature – for they show no sign of changing their outlook that current politics is still the “great game,” played with moderation and compromise, rather than what it is increasingly becoming – a struggle for national identity and statement of purpose and, hence, survival. The question is, do we have that much time?

Wonder why the White House is reluctant to return Democrat Congressmens’ calls? Could it be because they’re going to be subjected to a barrage of complaints about how explaining or justifying the administration’s “Amateur Hour” antics, especially as regards foreign policy, or more potentially (apparently) sinister actions domestically, are making their jobs on the Hill increasingly difficult?

And who, in their right minds, actually believes Chuck Schumer really behaves more or less as he likes, with Harry Reid running things? Harry’s image as a hard-ass would suffer if it were known he were not above cutting deals behind the scenes with Republicans, so he lets Schumer do that for him, with his (Harry’s) blessing.

There is, in your humble minion’s opinion and earnest hope, a fairly good chance the Republican senators backing McCain, once fully identified, will be planning on retirement before the mid-terms, or looking for work after them.

ID

Well, there you have it: when given the chance to dump their Congressional figureheads, the American voter elects to keep them; however, the same voter wants you to dump yours. After all, 49 states cannot stand John McCain, yet here we are—Arizona keeps voting him back in. Democrats had the exact problem with Joe Lieberman, lest we think this is a GOP issue.

We can hate Congress all we want, because basically they is us. We keep voting these people back into power.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.