Jimmy Kimmel Quotes
A new Gallup poll shows that only 1 in 10 Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. A 10 percent approval rating is about the same approval rating that rabies has.
The House of Representatives trying to adjust to Tea Party members voted against anything Democrats were for even if Republicans had created the legislation and previously supported it. The Congress the previous year had been the least productive in American history and it was mired in hyper-partisan gridlock, and the American public was fed up with Congress.
Jimmy Kimmel, Comedian, Jimmy Kimmel Live, August 15, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Congress at that time had about a 12 percent public approval rating. Other emergency disaster appropriations had been made in previous years in days or weeks, but the aid for New Jersey, New York and Connecticut had been voted by the Democratic-controlled Senate but not in the Republican controlled House. The Republican House leadership had planned a vote after the Fiscal Cliff vote the previous evening before the end of the Congressional term. Then the speaker cancelled the vote infuriating Christie and many of the members of Congress. His reason was that there was opposition from the Tea Party Conservative wing of his own party who had just been badly beaten on the fiscal cliff legislation, and the Speaker was up for reelection by his own party caucus the following day. If the vote had proceeded, it would have passed with Democratic and some Republican support but with the opposition of the conservative wing some of whom noted that the states seeking the emergency aid had just recently voted for President Obama and they were opposed to more federal spending despite the fact that emergency aid had never before been subjected to such partisan criteria. After much pressure, the Speaker then committed to an up or down vote in the following Congress to the chagrin of some of the Tea Party members. Governor Christie, much admired for his commitment to his state and not politicking was his candid self but he did not even go as far as Republican Congressman Peter King {630995}.
The Congress at the time was one of the worst in American history, accomplishing little more than nothing, mired in gridlock and ideological hyperpartisanship, with little concern for the nation as a whole. Other critics observe that it is the voting public that elected and re-elected the Congress and therefore must share the responsibility.
James Christian Kimmel is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California; and on April 1, 2019, at a secondary home, the Zappos Theater on the Las Vegas Strip. Kimmel hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2012, 2016 and 2020, and the Academy Awards in 2017 and 2018.
