Jun 04 2007
Race To The Bottom
Dems have used up all their political capitol and now have approval ratings in the tank with the rest of the DC Cuckoo’s Nest:
The Democrats in Congress have lost much of the leadership edge they carried out of the 2006 midterm election, with the lack of progress in Iraq being the leading cause. Their only solace: President Bush and the Republicans aren’t doing any better.
Six weeks ago the Democrats held a 24-point lead over Bush as the stronger leadership force in Washington; today that’s collapsed to a dead heat. The Democrats’ overall job approval rating likewise has dropped, from a 54 percent majority to 44 percent now — with the decline occurring almost exclusively among strong opponents of the Iraq War.
Yet the Democrats’ losses have not produced much in the way of gains for Bush or his party. The president’s approval rating remains a weak 35 percent, unchanged from mid-April at two points from his career low in ABC News/Washington Post polls. The Republicans in Congress do about as badly, with just 36 percent approval.
Can the pols find a way to screw things up any more? Yeah – they could fail to pass immigration legislation and deal with the illegal aliens here now. They could continue to call for surrender to al Qaeda. The nation is having a crisis of confidence – they have had it with the left and the right. Now is the time for the center to rise above the partisan fringe and get back to working for America. It will start with the immigration Bill. Incumbants should be very afraid right now. 2008 might be the year we clean house and elect ALL freshmen (which means Rudy Guiliani and others who are not tainted by the DC madness). America is ready to dump them all and start over. How nice would that be!
When you call the President of the United States a liar over and over again and think that it is political acceptable and no one knows what to say in response, and the media is complicit, this is what we as a nation now have. I say get rid of all of them, our precious elected officials. The bunch make me sick.
When you call the President of the United States a liar over and over again and think that it is political acceptable and no one knows what to say in response, and the media is complicit, this is what we as a nation now have. I say get rid of all of them, our precious elected officials. The bunch make me sick.
OOOORRR, IS there is a possibility that they are getting blasted in the polls for their stand on immigration? Because the polls are saying that democrat voters are more against the bill than repubs.
“OOOORRR, IS there is a possibility that they are getting blasted in the polls for their stand on immigration? Because the polls are saying that democrat voters are more against the bill than repubs. ”
I doubt it. I think that the everyone in this debate on either side of the many factions are very much overestimating how many people are paying attention at this point
Being Dems are only ruled by opinion polls, these polls will devastate them. They will not know which way to turn so they will be even more paralyzed. IMO, the house dems will not push the immigration bill thru.
I think you’re right ORDI, most of the new dem representatives we’re elected running on a hard anti illegal immigration line. They are not that well known let alone powerful enough in the house to buck their constituencies right off the bat, most of them would end up a one race pony.
Big LSU Fan,
There were quite a few responses to your last few posts in the last immigration thread.
Birk
Now we wait for AJ to tell us how wrong we are.
IIRC Pelosi said she would not bring the bill up unless she had 70 Repubs onboard. With this poll along with William Jefferson’s indictment today, the Repubs will see Pelosi and Dems political capital is all dried up.
AHHH Gridlock!
Opps sorry Bikerken I misspelled your name.
Big LSU said –
I doubt it. I think that the everyone in this debate on either side of the many factions are very much overestimating how many people are paying attention at this point
According to a Rasmussen poll, 81% of Americans are closely following news stories about immigration.
–begin quote–
Eighty-one percent (81%) of American voters are closely following news stories about the issue, including 37% who are following it Very Closely. Those with the highest interest in the issue oppose the legislation by a 3-to-1 margin (69% to 23%). By a 55% to 15% margin, those following the story Very Closely believe the bill will lead to increased levels of illegal immigration.
–end quote–
source for the above –
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/just_16_believe_senate_bill_will_reduce_illegal_immigration
“According to a Rasmussen poll, 81% of Americans are closely following news stories about immigration.”
They are lying lol.
First rule is people do not want to sound stupid to a pollster.
Second rule is that American more and more are not humble agnostics on issues that are not informed about. Everyone has a opinion. Often they will pick up the background buzz and that is it
Has does this relate to this issue. Well, I can tell the buzz on immigration is down from last year. Do I hear it discussed at happy hour as much -no Do I hear it discussed over lunch with people- not nearly as much as last year- Do we see more stories on the issue on the news- not as much as last year. Do we see more google searches on the subject? Not really and its down from last year
In the end most Americans find this politics thing we are engrossed in pretty tiresome. They detect a problem and they want it solved because it seems to intrude. Emotional issues they really want settled because that causes more commotion in their lives.
We might all be talking about what was Chris Matthews or what was going on Hannity and Colmes but at the end of the day when you look at the ratings of those shows no one is watching. It is just us which isnt many. Example I bet everyone commenting here can name all the folks running for the GOP 08 race. I bet the average American is lucky to name 2 or 3 at best
On immigration. they detect a problem they want it solved and they want it to go away for a while. Especailly after two years of having this debate.
As to the bill they have picked up the relentless background noise that this is soemthing bad and said immigration bill bad. But when polled on the individual components not huge changes.
Again the President at some point will make a big speech that will command the American attention for a day then attitudes will adjust and the American people will go back and just hope the problem is fixed
I am becoming a firm believer the negatives we see from both parties is not on the issues. I think Americans get tired of the temperature being raised on every single issue that it intrudes in their lives. And a perception that nothing is getting done
AJ,
One of your readers, BIGLSUSPORTSFAN, believes that it is not worth the resources to prosecute illegal immigrants who have used someone else’s SSN. He is favor of declaring them legal and granting them a pathway to citizenship.
One simple yes or no question for you AJ –
Are you in favor of granting “legal†status and a pathway to citizenship to an illegal immigrant who has used someone else’s SSN.
Yes or No.
I think your readers deserve to know.
I think people get tired of hearing the same people yammer on about the issue. For instance, someone will demand that the federal government “do” something about illegals, but they will not support any legislation that might actually result in anyone “doing” anything.
They will complain that a bill is not tough enough and yet they will tolerate no bill at all rather than compromise on anything anywhere anytime.
On one hand they say they just want to ignore the 12 million people here illegally and on the other they say they want them all prosecuted or deported.
I think it is this contradiction that just wears people out. I very rarely hear people talk about this issue outside of the boards. Most people have their own concerns. For instance, I have a client whose grandson is going back to Iraq soon. So whether or not someone gets a z visa is not high on her list of things to worry about right now.
That is just people and there is enough confusing and contradictory information out there right now that they honestly don’t know what to think.
And then of course there are the people who just have to demagogue the issue by making outlandish comments. Like anyone who supports comprehensive immigration reform thinks that it is ok for gangs to kill people in LA, or rather that the supporters can “excuse” it, as if anyone did anything of the kind. {and you know who you are, I have read the comment right here at AJ’s} Or that people who support immigration reform do not support border enforcement which is not true either. In fact I consider enforcement to be the most important part of the bill.
I also think we need to make changes in our immigration system for legal immigration, to make it less arbitrary and more predictable for people who are trying to do the right thing.
demagogue: one who tries to stir up people by appeals to emotion, prejudice. So says Websters. Think of Huey Long, Al Sharpton, Pat Buchanan. These kind of people don’t fix anything.
There are too many people like that in this debate.
And you know something? It costs tens of thousands of dollars a year to keep someone locked up in a prison. There are a lot of crimes the state does not think it is worth pursuing.
Used to be in rural areas we rarely saw drugs, now it seems the local law enforcement has just sort of given up on doing anything about it. Every now and then there will be a high profile bust and some people will get hauled in…but most of it they just let go by, they say they don’t have the resources to deal with it. So it seems a choice has been made to just sort of overlook some things.
That is depressing.
I would think that if you favor “one strike and you’re out,” then fraud — using somebody else’s SSN — would qualify as “one strike.” So I’ve already figured out that the answer would be No.
Aitch,
I thought I was pretty clear. I would not include speeding, but assault with a weapon (the car) in a high speed chase I would include. Misdemeanors would not count. If all they did was use it to claim they were legal then it is a minor offense. It would be like using my home address verses actually using my home. Fraud is a felony. Not all uses of an SSN our fraud I believe.
I was hoping to avoid more of the same questions. Felonies – yes.
All illegals that have committed a felony should be loaded into a Trebuchet and launched back over the Rio Grande. But hey that’s just my opinion.
An illegal immigrant is in what offense class? Felony, Misdemeanor?
Scaulen,
Misdemeanor. Recall the GOP tried to make it a felony in the previous Congress – failed miserably – and then stopped all legislation while they went on a listening tour? They want to FIX current laws because they were insufficient to their needs. two years later and they are saying current laws are just dandy – thank you.
Ugh.
And you know something? It costs tens of thousands of dollars a year to keep someone locked up in a prison. There are a lot of crimes the state does not think it is worth pursuing.
So are you saying stealing and using someone’s SS number is one of those crimes that is not worth pursueing? Suppose it were YOUR SS number.
So, we should do away with prisons????