The Illusion of Popularity
Members of the Senate Finance Committee appear to believe that the American people pay a lot of attention to what they do and don't do. One amendment would lead to the American people breathing a "sigh of relief" as they would know members of the committee are taking their time to study the bill. The rejection of another amendment is responsible for Congress's 12 percent approval rating. The American people are not happy with "conceptual language," they want to read the text of a bill. And so on.
Meanwhile, far, far, far more Americans saw Tom DeLay shake it to “Wild Thing” than have seen even one second of the Senate Finance Committee's mark-up. People just don't watch this stuff. They have no idea what the Senate is doing. If the bill passes, they'll probably assume it a good idea until they have a reason to believe otherwise. If it fails, they'll think the opposite. The feedback mechanisms are crude, as people are too busy to watch C-SPAN all day, or even know who Jon Kyl is. The members of the committee should concentrate on what they're doing, not what it looks like they're doing.
Meanwhile, here's DeLay shaking it.
By
Ezra Klein
|
September 23, 2009; 12:36 PM ET
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Posted by: visionbrkr | September 23, 2009 12:49 PM | Report abuse
Like someone said earlier on Hullabaloo, you almost feel a twinge of sadness at the lonliness and desparation on display at Dancing with the Stars. Almost...
Posted by: luko | September 23, 2009 1:02 PM | Report abuse
Ah give Congress a break Ezra, its a hard time to be a politician right now, and everyone likes to believe what they are doing matters to someone, whether its a writer, singer, baseball player, or senator.
Posted by: zeppelin003 | September 23, 2009 1:22 PM | Report abuse
Now if a woman that pudgy had shown up to dance she would have been booed and hissed.
So, Fat Tom, boo. Hiss.
Posted by: carolcarre | September 23, 2009 1:58 PM | Report abuse
I don't want to see Tom DeLay on Dancing with the Whatevers, and I don't want to see him on your blog. The best response to DeLay is to boycott him. Giving him attention only encourages him to try to make some kind of comeback. Let's ignore him please.
Posted by: evan500 | September 23, 2009 2:18 PM | Report abuse
You certainly do attract a humorless group of commenters.
Posted by: ostap666 | September 23, 2009 5:11 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
the fact that they argued for 2+ hours on the language issue really is annoying. I'm watching and listening to it while working and Sen. Bunning I can see why your approval rating is where it is. Out to pasture with you.
Get to what we all want to see. Rockefeller's ammendment adding the public option and let's see that vote.