Wow, this is one of those polls showing how much the Bush Administration and their enablers killed the GOP. You have to wonder how they'll recover.

This is what I told my friend who ran competitively for Congress last year in this deep red district. Retrospectively you ran an old vanilla campaign and failed to understand that the underlying issue is not the War or policies of the GOP but a SAVE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. This is a radical wholesale indictment of the GOP but now it is being exposed. It is not so much policy incompetence or incremental class or partisan winning or losing or even cultural issues but the fundamental reaffirmation of a rule of law and Constitution. This Congress or its leaders don't get that. It appears it is creeping into the chambers but far too slow and being couched of course as partisanship. This will take courage and conviction individually.

Credibility in this charge will be exposing the actions of those GOP (and collaberating Democrats) who are essentially lawless in this regard. Cheney is the poster child right now, the Justice Dept is there, Rove and his politicization is there, but it goes deeper than that. It goes into the regulatory bodies and even to the subjacation of the courts and points like the Federalist Society and Theo-con's who openly seek to overturn the Constitution.

One must hammer away at this with example and persuasion,

Finally! And what is really encouraging is the fact that people want the Democratic leadership to do more to beat down the Republicans who are blocking the Democratic program. These are enabling numbers for Reid and Pelosi. Pound them! Pound them!

Could somebody send these poll results to the Blue Dog Democrats and help them get a clue about where the electorate stands now?

Public frustration with the Democrats is the same frustration with the White House. The Dems won't risk any political capital to fight for the right things. Yeah, they have a slim majority, but they aren't even jaw boning the issues with the language the public wants to hear. The public sees the corporate fascism--out of control illegal immigration--environmental catastrophe--poison chinese products--erosion of jobs for the middle class--Iraq war--rising terrorist recruitments--and sees nobody doing ANYTHING at all about it, except talking about the PROCESS of the next election cycle. The public knows our system is broken--they elected Democrats to fight for them--and the Democrats are timid. I hate to admit it, but Ralph Nader was right. We are so doomed.

"If you talk about it, even the simplest thing becomes complex and incomprehensible." -Herman Hesse

I think there is a large number of people out there who have watched Reid and Pelosi roll over on some pretty key issues (the war funding bill is a good case in point). That may be why so many people are still somewhat unhappy with how the Dems are doing in Congress.

But I'll bet if you asked all those who report unhappiness with the Dems "would you rather have the Republicans back in charge," the answer would look very interesting.

I see a lot of eggs, but I intend to wait to see if they hatch before I crow. I have a great deal of doubt about whether our next president will be a Democrat, given that Clinton is the front runner. I just can't see the votes being there for her to win. And, voters are very, very fickle. So even if they favor Democrats today, it is over a year before they vote for Congress.

Hoppy in Sacramento

But that doesn't explain why Dems' approval ratings are actually lower than Bush's. If that is what the public wants, then both Bush and the Dems should have low ratings, but Bush should be lower.

I'll be the first to cheer the Republican demise and to criticize the Democratic leadership for it's lack of resolve and direction but I honestly take these polls with several enormous grains of salt.

There's is a part of me that hears that the "public" is pissed and I think to myself "well we're just as much to blame as anyone." Whether we didn't vote or we voted for the clowns that screwed things up, we're still complicit. The problem is that Americans hate to accept the blame when something goes wrong (this applies to citizenry as well as politicians). And after years and years of absolutely corrupt Republican control (with little or no oversight in any meaningful way) I think it's more than a little unfair to expect anyone to waltz in and fix it in a couple months. It's simply unrealistic. It's like buying a brand new Lotus and taking it off-road in the Grand Canyon. And when it gets inevitably trashed you get pissed at the mechanic you take it to because he can't fix it in 10 minutes while you wait. (Word of advise - Don't take a car off-road that's not designed for it and expect good things to come of it. And if you do...you're the idiot...stupid.)

In my mind this whole country needs to stop talking about useless and virtually meaningless polls and start talking about the issues and problems and maybe present a solution or two. Accepting responsibility and learning from our mistakes might be helpful to the process as well. Polls are just numbers that make people think they're participating and that they are smarter or more informed than they really are. I mean what kind of progress do we all expect from asking a question like - Do you like me? (circle one) YES / NO

In my opinion, this poll shows that people haven't completely given up on the Democrats--yet. But they'd better get their butts moving and get a few things accomplished before '08 or there's still time to lose the election. I think the subpoenas are a good start. The Democrats are afraid of appearing too partisan and too aggressive, but I think it's exactly what the public is looking for. Bush is immensely unpopular, and I believe the American people WANT the Democratic Congress to take him down.

Well let's see. We should really start by comparing apples to apples, i.e., how did Democrats do when they controlled both houses of Congress plus the White House? From 1950 to present, that happened four times; from 1950-52, 1960-68, 1976-80 and 1992-94. That second period is pretty notable for a little thing called the Vietnam war. 1976-80 was no real prize either.

More recently, it was the multiplicity of scandals and abuses emanating from the Democratic Congresses of the '80s and early '90s that set the stage for the Republican takeover in '94. Clinton did have a Democratic Congress his first two years in office. But even though Dem's still controlled both houses by healthy margins at that time, enough of them were so thoroughly sold out to corporate interests that we couldn't manage to get national health insurance passed.

Through it all, I still believe the Democratic party is the last best hope for the country. But they're human beings, not saints. Doesn't matter who's in control, you still need to watch them like a hawk. So I strongly agree that a healthy opposition party is essential to a healthy government. Democracy is supposed to be one big argument. And any time one party thinks they have all the answers, it's a strong indicator that they're not asking all right questions.

I'm about sick of the lack of factss you jerks have as concerns the war supplemental.

First, ass: Bushit vetoed it; and sending the same bill to him, over and over and over, each time it being vetoed, wasn't going to accomplish anything excpt obvious political theater. The voters got it: Bushit would veto that bill every time.

Second: the supplemental as Bushit signed it forced him to compromise for the first time in six years -- a major victory on which to build.

Third: the supplemanetal included dmoestic spending to which Bushit was adamantly opposed -- including monies for veterans affairs.

Fourth: it also inckuded a raise in the minimum wage, against which Bushit was especially hostile.

Fifth: the Democrats don't (yet) have sufficient votes to override vetoes. Or to impeach. Or to do all the other things the political neophytes demand be done regardless the reality that politics is the art of the possilbe.

The reason the poll numbers are down for the Democrats is not because Pelosi and Reid "rolled over" -- damnded assinine stupidity as that assertion is -- because they didn't "roll over". REREAD THE ABOVE: THEY DON'T (YET) HAVE THE VOTES TO DO EVERYTHING EXACTLY AS AND IMMEDIATELY AS DEMANDED BY THE POLITICALLY STUPID.

It is because know-nothing voters only pay attention to politics during football halftimes; that's why they lack the facts about the supplemental, and make and believe the bullshit assertion that the Democrats "rolled over".

Where do you assholes get the idea that not being rude equals "spineless" and "no balls," etc.?

The many investigations do not come out of any of the Democrat-bashers' gibberish horsehit. The subpoenas do not come out of the Democrat-bashers' name-callings against the Democrats. They come out of actual democratic due process of law, which takes time.

Also left out of those facts is this fact: the Congress is not comprised soley of Democrats. There are also Republicans in the same room, and they are the obstacles, the obstructions, the foot-draggers. Bash them for a fucking change.

Connect the dots and make up your mind:

You hate the Republicans because they are uncivil. And you bash the Democrats because they aren't uncivil.

Asshole: it the public wants to see partisanship, then they are stupider than a bag of rocks. This isn't a fucking football game.

And the subpoenas are not merely a start, asshole: they are based upon hard evidence gathered beforehand by means of investigation.

Get a basic education in democratic due process. Beginning with the meaning of the word "democracy". And then put that in a context in which, on one side, there is opposition by the other party; and on the other, a mass of ignorant voters demanding the Democrats do that which is not yet possible.

Either learn the meaning of political reality, and the actual deatils of the supplemental, or shut the fuck up. Cheap-shotting the Democrats because you aren't paying attention is juvenile.

You hate the Republicans because they are uncivil.

I call strawman.

We hate the Republicans because they are bloody fascist theocratic criminals. Not because they are "uncivil", which is just fine.

the supplemental as Bushit signed it forced him to compromise for the first time in six years

The minumum wage increase is so pathetic that even the big corporations don't care that much, and as for the veterans' money, Bush will simply choose to hand it off to cronies instead of spending it as it's supposed to be spent.

Incoherent platform, yes. Far to the "right"? Depends what you mean by "right".

Paranoid individualists is what I'd call them if I were being rude. And the point is, the fascist "government in your bedroom tapping your phones" Republicant government is driving them to the Democrats.