They are trying to play down the war, which, in any case,  is the reason for high gas prices.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! :)

Speaking of which, see this story on prosecutors pursuing a wide range of allegations on Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney.

Or how about this on possible prositution in the case of "convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers?"

Shocked, I tell you!

Casablanca is the greatest movie of all time...

Appropriate, eh?

The answer is fairly simple.  When you ask politicians what's on their constituents' minds, they are most likely going to tell you what's on the politicians' minds and pass it off as popular opinion. 

I am in the home stretch of a campaign for Charlottesville City Council (http://www.votefordave.org).  We candidates are often asked, "What issues are of greatest concern to the voters?"  My Republican opponent usually answers something along the lines of, "High property taxes."  I usually answer something along the lines of, "Affordable housing, schools, and the need for greater fiscal responsibility in government."  I don't think it's an accident that my opponent's platform, from the moment he started his campaign, has focused largely on high property taxes, while my platform, from the moment I started my campaign, has focused largely on...affordable housing, schools, and the need for greater fiscal responsibility in government.  So, when we're asked what we're hearing from the voters, we filter the answer through the mental sieve of our own political self-promotion.  Does that make us craven?  Quite possibly.  :-)

but thanks for confirming.  Good luck in you run for City Council.  Also, I love the name of your website (http://www.votefordave.org/). Along with all this talk about Spanish and immigration, it got me to thinking of the movie Napoleon Dynamite and its classic political campaign slogan, Vote for Pedro!

I would like to point out that the pro-outsourcing and worker replacement lobby has done its best to include provisions unrelated to the wider issues of immigration reform.

They have managed to insert provisions for larger numbers of "H-1b" category replacement workers and a new devastating "F-4" visa category. (IT commentator and professor of computer science Norman Matloff calls this the "nail in the coffin" for American IT workers.)

These provisions are in keeping with the Harris Miller/outsourcing lobby objectives: facilitate offshore outsourcing of American white collar jobs and provide a large pool of low wage foreign labor in the U.S. to fill white collar jobs.

This has NOTHING to do with the broader issues of real immigration reform. It has EVERYTHING to do with the CULTURE OF CORRUPTION.

This reminds me so much of how Miller and the ITAA succeeded in passing an increase in H-1b workers tied to an omnibus spending bill. These outsourcing lobbyists are complete opportunists...

Did we forget that Republicans these days only represent Republicans and Democrats only Democrats? This isn't suprising when one looks at how gerrymandered and protected current incumbents are, their districts are just echo chambers.

The National Journal poll may only reflect, as Dave says, the concerns of the politicians who project their concerns on to their constituents. That's plausible.

What does a poll that's non-partisan oriented, a poll, say, of average Americans, or of registered voters say? Has the Bush alternate media machine so overwhelmed us that it's really managed to divert attention away from Iraq? Iran? Balooning deficits? Has it managed to cover the so-called positive news about the economy, but not the counter-indications of middle-class distress, of looming foreclosures in less booming places (like, say, Michigan)? I believe such a poll would show a different list of priorities, if it was in fact done in a neutral manner which did not trigger a programmed answer from the brainwashed.