Jackson FiveAll Wingnuttia is a-burble about this Zogby/Reuters poll that has Congress' approval rating at 14%. Bush is at 34%. Hence, All America allegedly loves Bush twice as much as The Entire Democratic Party, or something: "The public disdain for Democrats is overwhelming," giggles noted chucklehead Don Surber.

Omigod how awful are we ever "pwned" whimper boohoo.

Feh.

Of course the full story is a bit more complex. From Zogby's release:

The Democratic Congress gets poor marks across the ideological spectrum – just 21% of liberals and 10% of the very liberal give it positive marks, while 14% of conservatives and 14% of the very conservative give it positive ratings. Among Democrats, just 19% give Congress positive marks, compared to 13% of Republicans and 8% of political independents.

Contrast this with the ideological responses to Bush:

Bush’s numbers are stable among Republicans, where he wins a 63% positive rating, and among those who consider themselves political independents – where he wins 31% support. Just 8% of Democrats give the President positive job marks. Among men, 33% gave him positive job marks, while 34% of women gave him a positive rating.

So, actually pretty anemic support for the preznit from his own party. But that's not the bigger point. That's to do with what people are really expecting of this Congress, and to do with the inherent idiocy of the wingnut goobering about "public disdain for Democrats."

You see, wingnut geniuses, the Congress is controlled by the Democrats: it is not solely composed of Democrats. I don't see where Zogby breaks this down (I'm not a subscriber), but Congressional Democrats have been polling ahead of C-Republicans consistently.

But the even more significant issue does not show up in the Zogby 14% poll -- and this is from a different poll, yadda dadda -- but the numbers are so overwhelming I don't see how it makes much difference:

Which of these comes closest to your opinion? Congress should block all funding for the war in Iraq no matter what. OR, Congress should allow funding, but only on the condition that the U.S. sets a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. OR, Congress should allow all funding for the war without any timetable conditions.

Block all: 8

Timetable: 61

Allow all: 28

Unsure: 3

The reason nobody likes Congress is because nobody likes the war, and Congress has not yet forced the Bushites to say when the war will end. This is really not a subject for debate: anyone who wants to pay attention to the polls and who is honest will concede this. The low ratings for Congress are a result of the frustration most American feel because their wishes are being thwarted. Americans feel betrayed and angry because their institutions are not reflecting their will. For some reason, getting lied into a war that turns into a bloody trainwreck makes folks a mite testy. Go figure. Anyway, people are pissed off at Democrats to the extent that they are not stopping the Republicans, whom all but the wingnut dead-enders see as deranged liars.

See how fun and easy it was dispensing with that silly spin?

So Easy! (Taps toes, breaks out into song)

Easy as A-B-C, 1-2-3, do-re-mi, wingnuts can go blow me, A-B-C, dee dee dee... (Does little dance step, pirouettes, stops suddenly)

Ummm, sorry. Excuse me. Got carried away there. Forgot youse all were watching....

Ahem.

Grumble...

(Downs slug of Labatt's Light in decidedly manly fashion, mutters dark imprecations about Mets bullpen)