Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who has a lower approval rating than Lizzie Borden, was quoted in the news the other day calling President George Bush a bunch of names reminiscent of childhood playground spats.

She can't get anything done, has accomplished absolutely nothing, and can't understand why Americans aren't happy with her stunts such as subjugating herself before the king of Syria, and claiming that our military can't win a war unless the Iranian fanatics "let them." So she resorts to sticks and stones behavior.

What a hoot! This woman is the living embodiment of cluelessness. She reminds me of Yosemite Sam after he has been soundly thrashed by Bugs Bunny. Bugs walks away with a non-stop commentary along the lines of "What a Maroon, What a Nimrod," while the Samster goes ballistic and steam comes out of his ears.

In this case, President Bush had the class and good taste not to respond to Pelosi's blatherings as he walks away victorious, but I almost wish he would. Maybe the White House communications crew can look up a bunch of old Looney Tunes and get some good retorts to go with the steam blowing out of Pelosi's ears.

The fact is, 91 percent of Americans think this Democratically controlled Congress is a total flop. If Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid's approval ratings sink any lower they will be in the negatives.

I find it amusing that some news organizations are trying to come up with polls that give different outcomes than the Rasmussen poll last week that showed the 9 percent approval rating for Congress. Yet, even with skewing the questions and targeting the most likely people to say something nice about Congress, they still can't get out of the teens.

So what do they - Reid and Pelosi - do in response? Do they sit down and take a realistic appraisal of their performance, where they are going wrong, what they have to do to turn it around?

Nope. They hurl invective and personal insults at the President of the United States in a time worn propaganda tactic of doing something really badly, but pointing your finger and blaming your failures on your opponent.

It might have worked a few generations ago, but America is smarter than that. Obviously Pelosi and Reid are not included in that definition of "America."

Guess which historic American leader had an approval rating during wartime that matched President Bush? Give up?

George Washington! It's true, look it up. In the middle of the Revolutionary War only a third of colonists were behind him, another third were solidly opposed and the rest were fence sitters. Guess whose approval rating skyrocketed when we won that war?

Right again. Such is the nature of political life in a democracy.

There is some hope here. There actually are capable people running for election to Congress all across this country. They are often up against entrenched Democrats, and the media likes to claim that so-called "Democratic districts" will automatically return the incumbents to power, as though every Democratic voter in America is a mindless stooge with no more sense than lemmings.

I disagree. Many of my friends of Democratic and Independent persuasions are as disgusted with the actions of their party leaders as I and many other Republicans were with some of our so-called representatives in Congress two years ago.

People may not show it in public, but when they go to vote, they can vote their consciences. The greatest show of conscience I can imagine would be Nancy Pelosi's district in California throwing her out and putting a capable representative in her place.