Editorial: "Congress needs reforms, term limits"

Sorry guys, that horse ain't gettin' any deader.

Here's another great example of viewing the evidence through the filter of your own agenda.

Let's start with the unnamed Courier editor's assertion about Congressional approval relative to that of the Current Resident. Have a look at these trend graphs on pollster.com. Since the Dems have come into majority, public approval of Congress has turned around radically despite the unrelenting denigration of legislators and the institution itself by the mainstream media (clue: that's you, Mr. Editor). Meanwhile the Preznit's numbers continue to fall, admittedly at a lower rate as he approaches his statistical minimum -- that's where the only people left in his column are the completely clueless.

"Congress so far has been unable to make headway on such key issues as ..." only because of intractable Republicans in the Senate and White House. If those stubborn dead-enders were paying as much attention to public-opinion polls as the Courier editor pretends and doing their jobs responsibly, Congress would have already ordered withdrawal from Bush's adventure in Iraq, a radical restructuring of education and energy policy across the board and rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, and we'd be well on the way to a sensible national health-care system. If we keep the pressure on we can hope to sweep out most of the radicals in '08 and get moving forward in '09. But don't blame the Dems because a majority in Congress does not equal the dictatorial powers the editor seems to so admire. The system don't work like that, thank dread Cthulhu.

The editor gains a little cred for even mentioning the ethics problems of Richie Rich Renzi (R-Pentagon), but then squanders it by sweeping it under the smellier pile left by William Jefferson (D-Whirlpool Deep Freeze) -- as if that makes Renzi more ethical. That's a fourth-grade tactic, guys, and Renzi is our problem. You're right that the Dems haven't summarily tossed Jefferson out, but somehow you missed that the criminal investigation is continuing in the Republican Justice Department. Maybe the AG forgot about it, like everything else.

All this is designed to set up one of the editor's favorite canards, of course, the idea that term limits will make things better. Apparently the Courier editor believes that outlawing legislative experience and putting all the power of Congress in the hands of its bureaucratic staff is a vision of utopia. Ayayai.

The Courier continues to work to make you, the reader and voter, dumber about the political process that protects your freedom and maintains our society. Push back.