Why won't Americans vote Congress out of office?
From CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Only one in ten Americans thinks Congress is doing a good job.
With numbers like these... it's hard to imagine how any of our lawmakers will get re-elected in November. But sadly many of them will.
According to a new Gallup poll, Congress gets a 10% approval rating, which ties its all-time low for the past 4 decades.
83% disapprove of Congress.
What's more, Congress' approval rating is down among all political groups... at 9% for Democrats, 11% for independents and 10% for Republicans.
While experts say it's hard to pinpoint exactly why Americans are so negative about Congress, the answer is probably "everything."
There's the economy... including the skyrocketing national debt, the rapidly approaching fiscal cliff, the soon-to-expire Bush tax cuts and unemployment topping 8% for the last 42 months in a row.
There is no longer any compromise in Congress. Hyper-partisanship means all Congress does is bicker while accomplishing nothing.
Currently Congress has decided to reward itself with another 5-week vacation, despite all of these problems they're refusing to address.
The country is on the road to ruin, and Congress bears much of the responsibility.
Yet chances are if you check back in after the election, many of these same lawmakers will be right back in Washington.
Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
Here's my question to you: Why won't Americans vote Congress out of office?
Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
Should White House apologize for Biden’s ‘chains’ comment?
By CNN’s Jack Cafferty:
President Obama isn't backing away from Joe Biden's comments about putting people "back in chains," which is pretty remarkable when you think about it.
Speaking to a predominantly black crowd yesterday, the vice president said Mitt Romney's vision of regulating the big banks would quote "unchain Wall Street" and put "y'all back in chains."
Biden said this in Danville, Virginia – a city with a long history of racial tension.
He later tried to clean up after himself by saying he was referring to the Republicans' use of the word "unshackled" when talking about banks. It was too late as he had already caused a firestorm.
Biden has a long history of saying dumb stuff. What's alarming here is the nation's first African-American president is OK with this kind of language.
The president's deputy campaign manager told MSNBC she doesn't think Biden went too far when taken in context. She said, "We have no problem with those comments."
This is the same kind of insensitivity the president showed when he said "If you've got a business, you didn't build that."
Romney is blasting Obama, saying his campaign is all about "division and attack and hatred." The Romney campaign calls Biden's comments "a new low." Hard to argue with that.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani questions whether Biden has the "mental capacity" to handle the presidency.
Often times what Joe Biden says is entertaining and can be written off to be putting his mouth in motion without engaging his brain. But the comment about putting people back in chains is loaded with racial overtones and is a long way from being cute.
It should have been embarrassing for the nation's first black president.
But apparently it wasn't.
Here's my question to you: Should the White House apologize for the vice president's remarks about putting people "back in chains"?
Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 4 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
@jackcafferty on Twitter
Recent Comments