Sometimes polls can provide useful snapshots of the public mood. Other times, as in this Wall Street Journal poll, they expose just how ignorant of their own history some people can be:
This particular Congress ranks as one of the worst – ever.
In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 42% of those polled judged the first session of the 112th Congress “one of the worst” in the 222-year history of the institution. Another 33% said it was “below average.”
Even the Journal reporter is forced to admit this is a bit of a stretch:
Congress has endured its share of scandal and inaction over the centuries, and it’s safe to assume that few (if any) of the 1,000 people interviewed in this survey witnessed some of its most rancorous debates like those over slavery.
It’s utterly safe to state that none of the respondents “witnessed” the congressional slavery debates. Or can recall from memory the beatings, duels, and verbal fisticuffs that punctuated them.
But surely some of the poll’s respondents recall Abscam, when congressbeings were caught on tape taking bribes. And some must remember the congressional banking and post office scandals that sent Dan Rostenkowski to jail and helped sweep the GOP into the majority in 1994. And some, one would hope, could recall more recent events, such as the ignominy of the TARP debate, or even the passage of Obamacare.
Alas, it seems those events, some bloody, some wicked and some comical, simply don’t compare to the clown show we have today.
