Here’s Stu Rothenberg blaming the media for Congress being so unpopular with the American people.

Journalists and talking heads tell voters over and over that Congress is inept, even corrupt, and when we ask them what they think about Congress, they call Congress inept and even corrupt. And then we report back that Americans think Congress is inept and even corrupt. It’s a never-ending feedback loop that reinforces the conventional wisdom.

Rothenberg never once mentions the Republican Party as a reason that people hate Congress. Amazingly, he doesn’t even mention the Democratic or Republican parties. It’s just one indivisible Congress that is inept and corrupt and that people hate.

This is taking “both sides do it” to another, higher, level. Rothenberg acknowledges that the people don’t pay close enough attention to politics to know how unproductive this particular Congress has been, but then offers them no explanation for their lack of productivity other than this:

There are plenty of reasons Congress has had a difficult time addressing the nation’s issues. Some of them involve the political parties and their leaders. Many are related to the demise of broad based parties, new technologies that undermine authority and leadership, and the increasingly diffuse nature of power, both in the media and in our campaign system.

But counting the number of laws enacted and harping on gridlock in Washington doesn’t inform or educate, and it isn’t going to unite a divided country. Of course, the voters could encourage Washington to move toward compromise if they wanted. Just don’t hold your breath until they do — and don’t expect them to be much happier with the eventual compromises anyway.

“Some of them involve the political parties and their leaders.” Would one of those political parties be the Republican Party? Would some of those leaders be Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner? Could any of those people or things just maybe be responsible for the absolute gridlock in Washington? Or are you going to tell me that Maxine Waters and Tammy Baldwin are responsible for this Congress’s inability to do anything about anything?

Puh-leeze. Americans deserve to know that Congress sucks because the Republicans suck. They need to know that one side offers compromises and the other side threatens shutdowns and defaults.

Rothenberg is part of the problem he is attempting to describe.

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