I thought that was one of the things I learned in Kindergarten. I guess those rules don’t apply to Michigan Senator, Carl Levin. Sweet Jesus – this guy sucks huge (50% Approval..give or take 5%..which lasts for YEARS…please see fun approval rating statistics at: http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=8946f2c8-afa0-46e2-8619-787fbef0d214) and yet he was elected back for another 6 years by about a 3 to 1 margin (http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/08GEN/05000000.html). What? How? Why? WTF.
If you or I (unless, Carl, you’re reading this) had a 50-55% approval rating at our job, then I think I would have been fired a long time ago. Well, maybe not if you’re in a union. Maybe I answered my own questions…
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November 7, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Physics and Politics « Cynical Synapse
[...] Michigan’s case, voters gave 74-year-old Sen. Carl Levin (D) another 6 years in office and returned 87% of incumbents in the US House to Washington. Of these, 7 are Republicans [...]
November 7, 2008 at 8:56 pm
cynicalsynapse
Most politicians have lower approval ratings than would apply to you or me on our jobs. Then again, it’s usually our bosses that do our reviews rather than an opinion poll from an arbitrarily chosen so-called representative sampling of our co-workers, customers, and suppliers.
Carl Levin has been instrumental in getting funding for the Michigan National Guard to replace outdated and undersized armories and maintenance facilities. In some cases, these buildings had been around since the early 20th century. I’m sure he was also a substantial help in passing the National Guard Empowerment Act. In an era when the US military depends on reserve forces, it’s time they are treated as equal partners. This is still a work in progress.
Despite those benefits to the state, Levin voted in favor of the $800+ billion Wall Street bailout. And he’s an incumbent. Thus, in an effort to reverse physics and politics, I voted for Levin’s Republican opponent. Since he’ll be 80 when his term ends, I hope there’s no history of dementia in his family. Not surprisingly, his brother Sander Levin also kept his seat in the US House.