..........is it popularity, or is it how America truly feels?

I wonder what Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi really think about Gallup's latest poll which shows that a record number of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Pelosi says that she wasn't overly concerned...yet. She said she'd be more concerned if this were mid-2008, instead of 2007. I don't know.... I think she's too smart for that. She must be concerned. Just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress. That's even worse than American confidence in HMO's, which stands at 15%. Can you believe that? Congress is less trusted than one of the most hated institutions in America. Score! The current 14% confidence rating for Congress is also down from 19% last year and is the lowest in Gallup’s history, surpassing the 18% confidence in Congress measured in 1991, 1993 and 1994.Across the board, the trend from last year is down, so it's not just Congress that Americans have less confidence in. But the drop from 19% to 14% is significant. That's a 26% drop. After the November elections I would have hoped to see the trend moving in the opposite direction. Despite the trend, I don't think this Congress is as useless as this poll would have us believe. I think part of the problem is that a disconnect exists betweens what politicians tell people to expect from them and what they are politically capable of accomplishing. Something that the newly unaffiliated Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday really struck a chord with me. He was referring to the recent presidential debates and the job of the press to ask pertinent questions of the candidates. "The press really is not doing its job of holding their feet to the fire," Bloomberg said. "The tough questions are not what are you in favor of, but how are you going to get it through Congress?"Exactly. At this point, who really cares what someone says they stand for or intends to do? Speak to us (Americans) like we're adults and tell us how you're going to get the job done. Most of us already know what's wrong with our system. We know the influence special interest groups and corporations have in Washington, we know what a filibuster is, know what earmarks are, know how Congress holds symbolic votes, know what a presidential veto is, know how many votes it takes to override a veto -- what I want to know now is exactly how the candidates intend to actually do what they say they're going to do. Let's drag the whole filthy system out into the light of day.