You have to give the New York Times credit. While the rest of the world, including even the left wing blogosphere, is noting the tightening of the 2006 midterm elections, the Times’ Adam Nagourney has stubbornly resolved to party like it’s 1994. Or a mirror image of 1994, but I’m sure you get my point.

Today’s Nagourney write-up of the latest Times’ poll (that features results somewhat at odds with every other recent poll – hmmm), is headlined “Only 25% in Poll Approve of the Congress.” AdNags thusly analyzes:

The disdain for Congress is as intense as it has been since 1994, when Republicans captured 52 seats to end 40 years of Democratic control of the House and retook the Senate as well. It underlines the challenge the Republican Party faces in trying to hold on to power in the face of a surge in anti-incumbent sentiment. (Emphasis added)

Naturally, this being a Nagourney write-up of a New York Times poll, it contains a predictable casual falsehood. In June of 1996, a scant 19% of Americans approved of Congress. That would seem to be more disdainful than the current 25% approval, and it would also seem to be “since 1994.” I know he has his marching orders from Pinch, but Adam’s really got to begin reading the internals of these polls before writing them up.

As far as the larger point is concerned, the Republican congress in 1996 spent the entire year bopping along with poll results similar to the current Congress’. Oddly, the fact that those polls failed to produce a Democratic tsunami escapes Nagourney’s highly trained reporter’s eye. (The relevant results be found here at page 9 on your Acrobat counter.) Furthermore, in 1998 the Republican-controlled Congress’ approval rating chugged along lustily in the 40’s, and that turned out to be a dreadful year for the Republicans.

To be fair, Nagourney is not alone in foreseeing Republican difficulties. His piece includes the following nugget of reportage:

“If they had new blood, then the people that influence them — the lobbyists — would maybe not be so influential,” said Norma Scranton, a Republican from Thedford, Neb., in a follow-up interview after the poll. “They don’t have our interest at heart because they’re influenced by these lobbyists. If they were new, maybe they would try to please their constituents a little better.”

Well, if Norma says it…

At a time like this, let us all bow our heads in thanks that the New York Times has long since passed into irrelevancy. There was a time in the not too distant past when such pieces might stir me to anger.

Now they are just laughable. And pathetic.

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