Say Anything Blog

Or was that two decades ago?

Or was it only two years ago that Congress, with approval ratings of only 27% portended doom for the Republicans who held slim majorities in both houses? 

That lack of approval did indeed herald the end of Republican majorities, but something odd is happening now that the Democrats control both chambers of “The most ethical Congress ever,” with approval ratings of about half what they were in October of 2006 (at an all time low of 15%).  Somehow it’s not the party which controls both houses of the Congress held in the lowest esteem in the recorded history of the Republic that are in trouble.  Somehow we’re not hearing that from the press.

What are we hearing?

Why that the Republicans are again doomed:

Since Labor Day, the media have released about 20 polls on the presidential race. Three show a dead heat, one shows [the Republican candidate] leading by a single percentage point, and the rest show [the Democratic candidate] leading by one to 10 points. In the latest polls, [the Democratic candidate] leads by an average of five points. It’s fashionable at this stage to caution that “anything can happen,” that [the Republican candidate] is “retooling,” and that the numbers can turn in [the Republican candidate]‘s favor just as easily as they turned against him. But they can’t. The numbers are moving toward [the Democratic candidate] because fundamental dynamics tilt the election in his favor. The only question has been how far those dynamics would carry him. Now that he has passed [the Republican candidate], the race is over.

But this was William Saletan writing in Slate in September of 2004... 

Cut cut cut!

Someone get re-write out here…