FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
When it comes to ethics - Congress scores lower than car salesmen.
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For the first time in Gallup's annual poll, a majority of those surveyed - 55-percent - say the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress are "low" or "very low." That number has more than doubled since 2000.
The decline in Congress' ethics rating in the past year has occurred almost equally among Republicans, independents and Democrats.
The most-highly rated professions include nurses, pharmacists, doctors, police officers and engineers.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel along with members of Congress: Car and insurance salespeople, stockbrokers, HMO managers and lawyers.
Telemarketers and lobbyists weren't included in this poll - but have received even lower ratings than Congress in the past.
It's a sad reflection of how Americans view the people they send to Washington to represent them. But it should come as no surprise considering the shennanigans that go on in the Capitol:
- Like former Cong. William Jefferson, recently sentenced to 13-years in prison... in a corruption case where he famously hid 90 grand in cash in his freezer...
- Or Senator John Ensign - who admitted to an affair with the wife of a staffer, paid the family almost 100-thousand dollars, and then allegedly got the husband a lobbying job, where he lobbied Ensign
- Or Congressman Charlie Rangel - still up to his ears in ethics investigations tied to his personal finances
And Senator Max Baucus of Montana - who faces accusations that he nominated his girlfriend for a U.S. attorney job.
And that's just skimming the surface… we didn't mention Larry Craig, Mark Foley, David Vitter… it's a very long list.
Here’s my question to you: Ethically speaking, what does it mean that members of Congress rank lower than car salesmen?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
James writes:
If doctors and nurses rank highest and members of Congress lowest, why is it that we trust Congress to remake health care instead of doctors?
Brian writes:
Our country elects fewer than 600 people on a national level to govern 300 million people. You think they can get it right? You think they represent the interests of 300 million people? What do 300 million people want anyway?
Car salesman writes:
Why does everyone always beat up on car salesmen? If people were not able to pay below the sale price, then we would not be viewed as we are. People pay the grocer his asking price. People pay the gas station their asking price. People pay the department store their asking price. Yet very few people pay the asking price on cars. Because of this, salesmen are forced to find ways get people to pay as close to the asking price as we can just to earn a living.
Bobby writes:
Politicians get paid ridiculously high salaries. Talk about Cash for Clunkers!
Chris writes:
This is a sad, yet predictable poll. What’s even worse is that we, as Americans, stand by and put up with it. This is our, the people's, fault.
A.J. from Potsdam, New York writes:
Between the staggering giveaways to their Wall Street and banking benefactors and health care "reform" that is little more than a profit protection plan for the health care cartel, our "public servants" make members of The Oldest Profession look like a church choir.
Jim from Bella Vista, Arkansas writes:
Jack, I was a car salesman years ago; please don't disparage car salesmen so. Car salesmen are paragons of virtue compared to these guys.
Greg writes:
Ethically speaking about a politician is like talking accuracy about Fox News… you can't be ethical and be a politician.