Spin prediction

Gallup finds Congress at it’s lowest approval rating since, well, Gallup started polling Congress:

A new Gallup Poll finds Congress’ approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Just 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove, according to the August 13-16, 2007, Gallup Poll.

Prepare yourselves for another round of spin from the leftosphere, dear readers. They see Congress as the Democrats in Congress, while most Americans realize that both parties are represented there. What the lefties are going to tell you (yet again) is that these abysmal poll ratings are due to Democrats in Congress not forcing an end to the war in Iraq (which they aren’t in a position to do), caving in on FISA (hey, there’s an election coming up — damn those principles, mustn’t look “weak on terror”), and not being aggressive enough (!) in pursuing investigations of the White House.

In other words, Congress has such low approval numbers because Congress isn’t doing what the netroots tell them to do.

Meanwhile, those free of such partisan shackles will note that what we have on our hands here is yet another “do nothing” Congress, made up of Republicans who seem to be aching for a spell in the wilderness, and Democrats who are salivating over their likely to be major victories in ‘08. Rather than deal with domestic issues forthrightly and honestly, this Congress is all about partisan jockeying, just as the last one was. Both parties are to blame, but the Democrats are the ones who most recently made promises to leave partisanship and “show politics” by the wayside in pursuit of good governance, so the lion’s share of the blame will rest on their shoulders.

As it should.

via Glenn Reynolds

Update: Welcome again, Instapundit readers, and thanks to Glenn for linking!

Update 2: Yes, this makes me look prescient:

Since Democrats took over Congress in January, there have been three major attributes characterizing their conduct: (1) a failure to stop or restrict the war in Iraq; (2) a general failure/unwillingness to stop Bush on much of anything else of significance (FISA, a failure to reverse any of the excesses of the GOP Congress, such as the Military Commissions Act, lack of limits on his ability to attack Iran, etc.); and (3) numerous investigations, sometimes flashly but thus far inconsequential. There is no rational way to argue that the numerous investigations (item (3)) are responsible for Congressional unpopularity given how overwhelmingly Americans want Congressional investigations of the administration.

Thus, the only rational conclusion is that Congress is so unpopular, particularly among Democrats, because of their ongoing capitulations to the Bush administration, their failure to place any limits on his Iraq policy, and their general inability/refusal to serve as a meaningful check on the administration. Democrats and independents overwhelmingly dislike the President. Thus, the weaker Congress is in defying the President, the more unpopular Congress becomes.

No Muad’Dib am I, however. This is the same spin the leftosphere put on the last poll that demonstrated Congress’ low standing in American public opinion. It’s the same spin they’ll put on the next poll as well…and it will be dusted off and sent spinning again during the 2008 elections. The leftosphere doesn’t require prescience to forecast…it has a much easier trait that can be exploited: Predictability.