Originally posted by Schmedlap:
I'm just curious, which individuals, if any, get respect from people who have a better understanding of the budgetary/legislative process. Who are the Congress Critters who actually DO good, rather than just making it look like they do good. I'm sure there are one or two of them, but I have no idea who.
Actually, a fair number would meet the criteria. We always used to work on the basis that it was "30 - 40 - 30". The 1st .300 was for the political partisans (they were all about politics, that was all that mattered, most were 1-2-3 main issue types, and that was all they cared about); the 2nd .40 were all about accumulating wealth/influence (and they both were and are still good at it), and the last 30 percent were actually good legislators. And the good ones would surprise you. People like Ted Kennedy, Charles Grassley, Tom Coburn, Steny Hoyer, Denny Hastert, John Dingell, others. I actually have a fair degree of respect for Henry Waxman, because he gets it done. Others, not so much.

Funny thing - in these times of trouble, there is a group of "newbies" from both sides who look to be fairly impressive. We'll see how they do, because the 2010 midterms are looking to be really interesting.

Remember the insight of a great political thinker on "Politics":

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

Groucho Marx

The saying really resonates as it relates to the Congress of the United States.