Ignoring ABC's own poll, Stephanopoulos claimed Congress "is even more unpopular" than Bush
On the July 27 edition of ABC's Good Morning America, chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported that the Bush administration is calling "just politics" the decision by the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena White House senior adviser Karl Rove over the administration's firings of U.S. attorneys. He added, "And they feel that's their best political ground right now because the Congress is even more unpopular than the president right now." In fact, the most recent poll conducted by Stephanopoulos' own network -- a July 18-21 Washington Post-ABC News poll -- showed President Bush with a lower approval rating than Congress. The poll found that Bush has a 33-percent approval rating and a 65-percent disapproval rating, and that Congress has ratings of 37 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval.
Moreover, when respondents were polled on congressional Democrats and Republicans separately, congressional Republicans received a 34-percent approval and a 64-percent disapproval rating, while congressional Democrats received an approval rating of 46 percent and a disapproval rating of 51 percent.
From the July 27 edition of ABC's Good Morning America:
CHRIS CUOMO (co-host): So let's look at it just from the political perspective. If Karl Rove, the adviser, is in the same boat, being subpoenaed to testify before Congress on the issue of the U.S. attorney firings and you have the [White House] chief of staff [Joshua Bolten] also being summoned, how worried is the administration that its legacy gets clouded by these legalities?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Right now, they're saying it's just politics. They're saying that the Congress is simply pursuing all these investigations and not doing the business of the people. And they feel that's their best political ground right now because the Congress is even more unpopular than the president right now. So they're going to continue to resist. They are not backing down on this executive privilege fight. They are not going to send the White House chief of staff and Karl Rove up to testify.
The Congressional poll numbers include a huge number of Democrats who hate Bush and are unhappy because Dems are not vigilant enough. The MSM ignores this distinction, and conflates poll numbers to make it seem as if people prefer Bush to Congress. It's a false implication.
Absolutely, I think most people know by now that Bush is stubborn and delusional when it comes to Iraq and we banked on the Dems to stand up to him, but we hionestly didn't arm them with enough votes, and we could have done that. Most Americans want out of Iraq and they are angry at the Democrats for not moving that forward. It's like installing a security system to stop a burglar and your home get’s burglarized anyway. I'd be pissed at the company I got the security system from, but I would be more pissed at the crook that entered my home and took my belongings, and possibly put my family in physical danger. We're frustrated; we knew the Republicans definitely weren’t going to go against Bush in any real way. It's more important to them to protect the image of Republican Party unity so they don't lose the support of the RINO Hunters of the world then to deal with the reality of Iraq. Anyone who knows the intricacies of legislative process has to know that what we need are more affirmative votes to support a sensible and methodical withdrawal from Iraq. We need additional Dems and Independents in the legislature (and strong ones) to override Bush's vetos and who are able to effectively hit back when Bush’s spin machine starts throwing the Democrats are defeatist punches. The Republican legislatures are in the way of producing veto proof legislation on Iraq.
FDR: "All we have to fear is fear itself."
Bush: "All we have to offer is fear itself."
Well done. Nails it.
Great point.
Congress is not near as unpopular as Bush is.
We want them to be tougher on Bush than they have been.
Given the choice between Republicans and Democrats, the vast majority of Americans are fully behind the Democrats. We don't think they're perfect, but they're a damn sight better than the Republicans!
These investigations are the business of the people and as the Congress follows through with them, their approval will rise.
Can't wait for the poll of my house: Bungle: 100% disapproval - impeach!; Repugnants in Congress: 100% disapproval - fire them in 2008; Congressional subpoenas: 50% approval, 50% not enough subpoenas; Special Prosecutor 100% approval.
My house too. The Hague 100% approval book Bush a flight
Stephanopoulos is not stating this, he's reporting "they're saying..." this. Boob head Stephanopoulos (I must be channeling from the Clinton cleavage thread) is parroting the White House in other words. It's good to know if the White House declares the earth is flat, boob head will dutifully report the information without comment, thought, or one iota of journalistic integrity.
Sadly, once again Steffy shows he's a gutless twit...
He's become a pitiful ABC corporate man.
I'm old enough to remember when he was a Democrat.
Then somebody said, "You're pretty enough to be on TV".
The complicity of the free press in this 61/2 year Bush nightmare cannot be overstated. In their desire to please the Republican power structure by being "objective", they have lost sight of the truth and no longer find it important in their reporting. The Republican surrogates who still dominate the discussion know a willing accomplice when they see one. Next up: watch the press back track on the Gonzales affair. Pathetic.
Neither side is very popular right now...with good reason. While the Repubs commit war crimes, the Dems refuse to stop it and instead collaborate with them. Marshall Pelosi and the Vichy Dems are working hand-in-hand with Fuhrer Bush and the Republinazis. Time to throw BOTH parties out of power.
Now that you can no longer justify the Conservative movement, you've moved on to voter suppression, hmmm?
Anyone who witnessed the Dem/liberal debate on CNN recently could have only one opinion about the modern liberal movement: it has become a lower bowel movement.
Ex.1-Obama says he'll pull out of Iraq on Mar 31, 2008, thereby signalling to al-Qaida when they can start governing Iraq.
Ex.2-Hillary trying to smear Obama for something inconsequential, rather than his incredibly stupid, and dangerous position on Iraq.
I will say, though, that Biden was the lone bright spot.
The only two liberals in the Dem race are Kucinich and Gravel, all the rest are conservatives.
Yea Checkers, I much prefer Bush's method of INVADING Iraq in the first place, thereby opening the country to terrorists. Back when the war was starting to so much joy, I argued with all these GOP clowns that Saddam was the only thing keeping al quaeda out of Iraq and that by going in we'd bleed a generation of our soldiers as well as the treasury and create a nursery for terrorists. The righties told me I was an idiot and I must hate America. Now these same clowns criticize people for wanting to get the hell out of the hopeless war they started because gosh that might cause problems. We should get all those decent kids the hell out of Iraq and send all these war mongering piglets over there to see if they can straighten things out.
While some of the democrats' centrist policies could be compared to intestinal gas, the republican troglodyte obstruction must then be akin to colon cancer.
Anyone reading your posts or hearing a Bush speech would come to only one conclusion about the conservative movement. That it is dominated by complete morons and is a virulent form of stupidity
Democrats in Congress have a 46% approval rating.
Bush (at 26%) and the GOP in Congress (at 34%) would kill for number that high.
This is a lame GOP talking point that you and the media are perpetuating.
http://pollingreport.com/congress.htm
The thing that I find most annoying and potentially misleading about these kind of polls is that they don't allow for the reason that Congress' approval rating is so low. The most likely explaination is that people are angry that they haven't ended Bush's insane occupation of Iraq or that they haven't impeached the Chimperor yet. That can hardly be seen as a plus for the Conservative movement. Perhaps that's why the poll never asked respondents why they were dissatisfied with Congress. So the results could be conveniently spun.
As a matter of fact, laughinglefty, although you probably have not seen too many headlines saying, "CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS WIN HIGHER APPROVAL RATINGS ON IRAQ THAN BOTH PRESIDENT BUSH AND CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS," according to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, reported 7/23/07 and -- get this -- conducted AFTER the Democrat-led Senate conducted its all-night sessionfailed to force the start of troop withdrawal, found: "Congressional Democrats receive 30% approval on how they are handling Iraq." Also reported by CBS News.com: "The Republicans [in Congress] fare even worse, getting only a 22% approval rating. [on Iraq]."
And what about our president? "Only 25% approve of the way President Bush is handling the war in Iraq." Mind you, CBS.com reported all of this -- I kid you not -- under the headline, "Congress Gets Dismal Marks on Iraq."
If they would bother to read the fine print on the Dem's Iraq plan, it's not to end the war but keep it going with only half the troop strength that's there presently. And the troops that get withdrawn would end up back in Iraq in rotation anyway. The Dems are not trying to end the war, just fool the American people that they are. The true workings of their proposals is to CONTINUE the occupation. It's all a big political con game and a lot of us are seeing it for what it is.
It's time for a new politics. It's time we threw all the bums out and elected people who won't kill moslems for Isreal, oil, and arms sales.
Great point. Some conservatives argue that "Congress is not popular because Democrats do this and that".
Did you forget about Republicans? Yes, there are Republicans in congress, and no, Americans do not care that Democrats control congress, because this "control" is fragile and cannot be enforced if Republicans keep blocking popular bills such as withdrawing from Iraq and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Democrats are more popular than Republicans in congress, and the only reason why Democrat approval is low, is because they have not pushed Bush hard enough on Iraq.
Besides the excellent point made in the opening comment, there's the fact that Congress consists of two houses, over 600 members from both parties, the accomplishments of which do not make sound-byte news; and it has a history almost from inception of being held in a scornful light by the public. That a "war-time preznit" is so despised by the people is simply not comparable to the opinion re the Congress.
I am increasingly not doing poll when called because the questions are either weighted "do you agree with Pelosi's liberal San Francisco values that are harming America" or do not address the real issues. "Do you approve of the job that Congress is doing?" I would ask, "which Congressmen?" "Which Job?" Details do matter.
I am impatient with the political calculation regarding impeachment; however, the voters en masse have not given the Dems enough clout to make the major changes we want. They have to work with colleagues who don't believe in evolution!!!
Pelosi is a conservative. She supports the Isareli occupation of Palestine, the continued US occupation of Iraq, and refuses to bring Bush and Cheney to justice. She's about as liberal as Paul Wolfowitz.
You are exaggerating. Pelosi opposed the 2002 blank check to Bush. Did Wolfowitz disagree with invading Iraq?
Pelosi wants federal funding for embryonic stem cells. Do conservatives hold this view?
And I can cite a million more issues that contradict your assertion that Pelosi is a conservative.
Pelosi supports the slow genocide of 3 million Palestinians in the name of Israeli racism. This is NOT a liberal viewpoint. It's is a conservative, RACIST stance. She is NOT a liberal when she condemns innocent children to DEATH simply because they are not Jewish. All other arguments to the contrary are weak and feeble compared to the misery she is helping inflict upon those people.
But then I'm starting to suspect there's a lot more racism in the Dem Party than is publically shown. Their voters seem more intent on keeping Republicans out of power than adressing the participation of their party leaders in a GENOCIDE.
yes, the most important fact that Mr. Stephanopoulis omitted was that congressional Democrats have a much lower disapproval rating that both congressional Republicans and, even more so, the president.