New America Foundation to US - The World's Changed: Get Over It

[tw]

Originally Posted by lookout123

That's the only chance that McCain has of bringing the Dobson crowd back into the fold.

Define "Dobson crowd".

[Clodfobble]

Dr. James Dobson, famous evangelical and head of the influential Christian group Focus on the Family.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by tw

I don't make a habit of attacking people which is obviously different from Urbane Guerrilla.

lol!!! Sorry...I just saw this....leaving now...sorry bye.

I don't make a habit of doing what I say I don't do in the same very sentence, which is obviously different from......

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by classicman

Seems like you are saying they get a free pass because its easier to blame an individual instead of a group.

No, it's easier to blame a group than an individual, but it is useless to do so. That's why Congress's approval rating is so low, and the people responsible for the displeasing behavior are doing fine in the polls. That's how pork gets in. Everybody does it, so blame Congress, not your own Congressman.

Also, people can agree that Congress has problems, but disagree on what those problems are.

Let's say that one reason for disapproving of Congress these days is that they are "do nothing".

Democrats are disappointed in Congress, but they support the Democrats who are trying to do stuff.
Republicans disapprove of Congress because it is under Democratic control, but approve of the Republicans who are threatening filibusters and upholding Bush's vetos.

The Republican members who block all Democratic legislation are from areas where people want Democratic legislation blocked, so they get high approval.

Democratic members are voting for bills that Democratic voters approve of, so they get high approval.

But bills are vetoed and filibustered at record levels, so Congress gets blamed for being "do nothing".

[classicman]

Thanks for the clarification HM - that makes a lot more sense.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Because Bush is a person, and Congress is a group. Bush's decisions are on him, but if Congress does something bad, attacking Congress as a whole can be cathartic but is otherwise meaningless. You have to track down whoever pushed the bad thing, or prevented improvement, and blame them. Especially in the Senate, it's easy for small numbers of people to drastically affect the product of the group, and then fade into the woodwork when the time for blame comes around. So Congress gets poor approval, and (I would guess) just about all Senators and Representatives have much higher approval than Bush.
Heh. It's funny to see this complaint about someone other than UG in an argument involving UG, no less.

That would be total bull shit. Congress is in the driving seat. Congress' approval rating is 23% and that has been consistantly below Bush's for months.

http://www.pollster.com/

Congress during Bush's reign is at much fault as is Bush himself, if not more, for any of the mess we are in. The Demoncrats ran on a platform of change and have been in office nearly 2 years, doing absolutely nothing. They are in the drivers seats, they get the blame.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

That would be total bull shit.

No.

[classicman]

HM, I understand and agree that its easier to blame a group adn not the individual, but I must say, this particular congress hasn't done squat.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

They are in the drivers seats, they get the blame.

The driver's seat? How do you figure?

There are three branch of government. The Rs control the Supreme Court and the White House, and the D's have a very narrow margin of control on the Hill. Not enough to override a veto.

By my count, possession of the White House and Supreme Court means the R's have 2/3 of the power. The D's have the 1/3 that constitutes the Hill, but even there, with filibusters and no veto proof majority, they don't even have that full slice of the power pie. I'd estimate they have about 75% of the power on the Hill. 75% of 1/3 is 1/4.

Doing the math, you come up with the Rs having 3/4 of the power in the Federal government and the D's having 1/4. The D's are hardly in the driver's seat.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by classicman

HM, I understand and agree that its easier to blame a group adn not the individual, but I must say, this particular congress hasn't done squat.

What could they have done?

[BigV]

Originally Posted by classicman

HM, I understand and agree that its easier to blame a group adn not the individual, but I must say, this particular congress hasn't done squat.

Not even played good defense, keeping the other side (whichever side that is) from running amok? Are you a half empty kinda guy?

[classicman]

HM - I don't know.

BigV - right now with the current situation - I'm feelin a lot negative - yeah.