" If Congress is complaining that they don't know about something that you care about, the right answer isn't to tell them to go get educated. The right answer is to educate them. Congress mentioned the word "biologics" 75 times in a month because a lobbyist spent a long time doing their job: educating members of Congress on the needs of its industry. "

"to offer respect for a major religion that has been behind the Islamic jihad, the radical jihad, that has sworn war upon the United States, its free allies and freedom in Iraq, is another thing,” explained freshman Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg"

"So Thomas can spare us the nostalgia. Our schools were never the paragons of discipline he imagines. And pretending otherwise simply diverts us from the big question, which will never have a single answer: What are schools for?"

"Reyes stumbled when I asked him a simple question about al Qaeda at the end of a 40-minute interview in his office last week. Members of the Intelligence Committee, mind you, are paid... to know more than basic facts about our foes in the Middle East."

"Radar ranks the 10 biggest fools on the Hill "

Kissell demagogues nonsensically about "a government that raids our Social Security coffers to pay for its expansion," followed by "then threatens to 'fix' Social Security in the manner it 'fixed' Medicare. Not on my watch,"

Bean opposes personal accounts, but frames Social Security as "facing solvency challenges" and something that Congress must "modernize". McSweeney misinterprets how trust fund bonds work and favors personal accounts.

Santorum barely manages to articulate his consistent (and 60 Plus Association approved) support for private accounts. Casey demagogues a nonsensical appeal to "stop thievery from Social Security trust fund".

"Analysts differ on the benefits the tax cuts have provided. Kean relies on figures from the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform,..."

Severe misinterpretation of the trust fund's operation, leading to: "I introduced legislation to end this terrible practice. Under my bill, HR 219, your Social Security contributions are set aside in an interest-bearing account and cannot be spent."

McCaskill opposes private accounts and labels such plans "efforts to privatize". Talent misinterprets the operation of the Social Security trust fund and vaguely argues that "We must save and invest the Social Security surplus in some way".

Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN), evidently under the impression that Congress is likely to commit the U.S. to economic implosion by defaulting on bonds held by the Social Security trust fund.

Jaw-dropping nonsense: "McCaskill said the key is fiscal responsibility, doing things like conducting cost-benefit analysis reports on Congressional projects. ... Talent said the key was to use the money funneled into social security FOR social security"

"While these papers do an admirable job covering the nuts and bolts of the legislative process, including how big business influences policy-making, they have actually become part of the influence game itself."

"The staff migration - a repercussion of term limits passed in 1990 - has strengthened the influence of interest groups in crafting laws but weakened lawmakers' ability to obtain the objective advice and institutional knowledge..."

"Clarke will also focus on SS reform. She does not support privatization, as President Bush has proposed. ... She isn't convinced that projections that show the SS trust fund will run out in a few decades take into account economic growth."

"Most of the most scathing critiques of the administration from erstwhile supporters are being expressed within think tanks and in journals and op-ed pages followed by a foreign policy elite in Washington and New York."