What do you think of this AP article titled "A productive Congress gets no respect"?

Question

It almost seems like the author of this article is trying to imply that THIS congress has passed programs that are equivalent to Medicare, Medicaid and Civil Rights legislation. It's starts out comparing them on a legislative basis, then slowly moves into a broader comparison that implies all those people who don't like this health care "reform" bill etc. are the same people that hated Civil Rights legislation, Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.

What do you think?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101018/ap_on_bi_ge/us_prolific_congress;_ylt=Al4wCmzOokStyXt1mc2JZYIDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTJwbTQ3c2w4BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMDE4L3VzX3Byb2xpZmljX2NvbmdyZXNzBHBvcwM5BHNlYwN5bl9hcnRpY2xlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDYXByb2R1Y3RpdmVj#mwpphu-container

Democrats are dearly hoping history won't repeat itself. In 1966, after Democrats created Medicare and Medicaid and passed civil rights laws, they got hammered in the election, losing 48 seats in the House and four in the Senate. They maintained their majorities in both at the time, but an identical result next month would turn the House over to Republicans.

In the 1960s, Democrats paid the price for events largely outside their control — an escalating war in Vietnam going badly, rowdy anti-war protests and violence in American cities, said Linda Fowler, professor of government at Dartmouth College.............The two other landmark acts of this session were the health care overhaul, a giant step toward universal coverage that had eluded presidents back to Franklin Roosevelt if not Teddy Roosevelt, and the Wall Street accountability act................The 1960s were a time of upheaval, and Medicare only arrived after a bitter debate echoing with cries from the right that socialism was on the march in America. Yet people had a lot more faith in government to do the right thing, polls from that time indicate.

And Medicare grew to be so popular that Republicans, the party that resisted it, have been quick to accuse Democrats of trying to cut it when they proposed to slow its growth and use the savings to help provide medical care to millions who lack health insurance.

An erosion of trust in institutions in general has enabled Republicans to score points by arguing that Democratic Big Government programs are exploding the national debt, Ornstein said. The result, he added, is that not many Democrats are campaigning on the benefits of the stimulus package, even though one-third of it was tax cuts that put money in most people's pockets.

Answer 1

It really demonstrates why nobody trusts the media any longer. It's a real sad state there in. Peace

Answer 2

This really is dependent upon what your definition of Productive is. I have three defintions of productive. I have detectives that look busy all the time. They move around a lot. Look into things, spend resource money, and accomplish little. Very limited case closeure rate and successful prosecution ratio. Now I keep them on for one reason. they do serve a purpose. High Profile movement, and they keep the real bad guys looking over their shoulder, but in the wrong direction. My second level of production involves actual hard nosed digging, this group of suits are good. These are my blood hounds. They find where the bodies are buried so to speak. Well worth their keep. My Third level of Production are the finishers, They teamed with the diggers make this unit of mine one of the best. These are the super detail guys that dot all of the I's and cross all of the T's. And help bring very bad people to justice, for those that deserve it. This congress fits the 1st category of paper shufflers I have.

Answer 3

As Mark Twain said, "A lie can make it half way around the world before the truth has time to put its boots on." It took all of two or three weeks for the Republicans to put on their boots to pursue the Democratic negatives. But, by late September, they were fully shod and were overcoming the negative attacks.



I believe the facts and the truth both speak volumes. Read it, and hear it!



MR

Answer 4

You mean that it's comparing what has been going on in Congress for two years to that of

the hugely deficit running medicaid and medicare programs that are showing decreases in payments every session....to that of the civil rights act that apparently has failed if you listen to liberals talk about current racism...40 years afterwards.



Yeah I just don't get how the people can say that Congress needs changed. It makes not sense, right?

Answer 5

It was nothing more than the media attempting to spin the Democrats ignoring what the American people wanted into something that would make the Democrats look better.

Answer 6

The House has been very productive. Now the Senate is a different story. Republican obstructionism ran rampant in the Senate and very little was accomplished. There are currently almost 400 bills, passed by the House, waiting in the Senate for even a discussion to be made on them.

Answer 7

It won't be an identical result next month, dems will lose much more than 48 seats.