[BretLudwig]

View From Lodi, CA Pittsburgh, PA: If 83% Of Americans Think Country In
€œBad Shape€�, Why Was 95.6% Of Congress Re-Elected?

By Joe Guzzardi

"Amazing!

What other word is there? Three weeks ago, I asked how annoyed Americans
are with our political leaders? I said wed find out on November 4th.

And we did.

The sad answer is that despite our bluster and considering that Congress
has only 10 percent approval rating, it turns out that Americans arent
angry at all.

Supposedly, our ire would send us to the polls in record numbers.

This was true for Democrats who actually showed up. But Republicans,
sensing disaster, stayed home. The net result was that 62 percent of
Americans registered cast a vote versus 60 percent four years ago.

Like lambs to the slaughter, voters too often re-elected the same
politicians who led them into a needless and costly war in Iraq, slept
while bankers destroyed Americas financial system, applauded as free
trade bills robbed the nation of its jobs, promoted amnesty, approved more
non-immigrant visas for foreign-born workers , and signed off on a series
of massive spending bills that brought the U.S. national debt to over $10
trillion, up from seven trillion when I wrote about it in January 2004.

A few of the most stunning returns:

* In Pennsylvania, my new home, Barack Obama heaped scorn on us
calling us €œbitter€� but he coasted to an easy victory.

* In Alaska, voters gave enough support to the crotchety 85-year-old
convicted felon Senator Ted Stevens to send his race against Anchorage
Mayor Mark Begich into overtime. Alaskans endorsed Stevens despite Senate
Majority leader Harry Reids promise that if elected he would not serve.
[A Felon Leads in Alaskas Senate Race, by T. W. Farnam, Wall Street
Journal, November 5, 2008]

* In Minnesota, the Democrats inexperienced tax evasion candidate
Al Franken forced incumbent Norm Coleman into a recount.[Coleman Leads
Franken in Minnesota Senate Race, by Patrick Condon, Associated Press,
November 5, 2008]

* In San Francisco, U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi, arguably the
worst House Speaker in history, got more than 70 percent of the vote
despite challenges from Independent anti-war candidate Cindy Sheehan and
Republican Dana Walsh.

* In New York, Pelosis fellow Congressional liberal Democrat Nita
Lowey defeated the conservative, immigration restrictionist,
pro-environment candidate Jim Russell despite her money connections to the
Wall Street crowd€”specifically Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns€”that
has bankrupted America

In Californias 11th district that includes Lodi, Democratic incumbent
Jerry McNerney survived his challenge from Dean Andal, a well-known and
widely respected Republican.

Even though McNerney voted before Election Day for both federal bailout
packages, largely unpopular with voters, he easily defeated Andal, a
fiscal conservative. [McNerney with Strong Win Over Andal, by David
Siders, The Record, November 5, 2008]

As of today, no one knows where the $700 billion urgently disbursed to the
banks has been spent. Instead of stemming the crisis, the bailout McNerey
supported accelerated the consumer catastrophe but allowed some banks to
acquire its weaker sisters.

During the painful, endless presidential campaign John McCain and Obama
took advantage of the uninformed electorate and the wimpy MainStream Media
by playing to the lowest common denominator.

Confident that their audience is clueless, the candidates went from city
to city, promising jobs and prosperity but rarely fielding a question
about how the jobs or prosperity would be created.

That I am aware of, not one reporter said to McCain: €œSir, the free
trade agreements that you voted for in Congress are the reason that there
are no jobs in the first place.€�

The anti-incumbency movement, about which I have written before, is dead.
In fact, it never was alive.

The 2008 results prove that Americans are delighted with the status quo
despite their protestations to the contrary.

Heres the €œthrow the bums out€� dismal final tally.

The Congressional retention rate remained the same as it has been since
1855, 95.6 percent overall.

As usual, no third-party congressional candidate was elected. A handful
reached the 20 percent level while in the vast majority of cases they
stayed in low single digits.

In the presidential vote category, about just 1.6 million people voted for
third-party candidates, compared to 1.2 million in 2004, an insignificant
increase.

Ill end my bleak column with a good laugh for you.

In a CNN poll released on Monday, less than one week after the election,
83 percent of Americans said that the country is in €œbad shape.€�

Yet on the Tuesday preceding the poll, they voted overwhelmingly to keep
in office the very individuals who put the nation in the sad state it
finds itself.

Give me a break! Whats in €œbad shape€� is the publics awareness
level that I rate as terrifyingly low."



http://www.vdare.com/guzzardi/081114_vfl.htm

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