'The Federal Government Poses an Immediate Threat to the Rights and Freedom of Ordinary Citizens'

No wonder the Obama goon squad wants to make it as if the Chamber of Commerce is the greatest threat known to democracy. Anything to distract the public from the miserable failures of his administration and the Democrat Senate and Congress.

Angry Americans had a field day in a new poll when asked to describe the federal government in one word or short phrase.

It wasn't pretty.

Among the most common words used were "too big," "corrupt," "confused" and "incompetent."

Plenty also branded the government with "bad," "broken," "bloated," "lousy," "a mess," "it stinks" and "wasteful."

New Yorkers were in line with much of the rest of the nation, calling the feds, among other things, "awful," "bad," bickering" and "corrupt."

A New Jersey man, who identified himself as a conservative Democrat, said simply, "A pain."

More than 7 in 10 responded with a negative word or phrase, according to the USA Today/Gallup poll, released yesterday, that asked Americans to give a short, off-the-cuff reaction to the federal government.

"Overall, 72 percent of responses about the federal government are negative, touching on its inefficiency, size, corruption and general incompetence," the pollsters said.

Just 10 percent of responses were clearly positive, such as "good" or "pretty good."

About 18 percent gave neutral or mixed reactions.

The same poll found that about 60 percent of Americans believe the government is too powerful, and nearly half agree with the statement: "The federal government poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedom of ordinary citizens."

The results highlight the angry and dissatisfied mood of voters, which has fueled the anti-big-government Tea Party movement and put incumbent politicians in jeopardy in next month's midterm elections.

Other than that, everyone loves our government masters. Wash that around in your head for a minute: Sixty percent of the public thinks the government is an immediate threat to your freedom. Not the Chamber of Commerce. Speaking of which, three weeks out from a catastrophe for Democrats, the whining shows signs of desperation.

It should be taken as an axiom of political life that if your argument is about the other side's advertisements, you're losing. If your argument is about who's funding the other side's ads, you're losing badly. And if your argument is about how foreigners might -- lack of evidence notwithstanding -- be secretly funneling cash into the other side's ad, you're losing in a historic landslide.

The Democratic National Committee takes Obama's crude attack and makes it even more witless and ham-handed. In a new TV ad, it accuses the Chamber and Rove of "stealing our democracy," as a shadowy man snatches a woman's purse in a garage. "It appears they've even taken secret foreign money to influence our elections," the ad intones, with images of ominous Chinese currency flashing in the background. "It's incredible: Republicans benefiting from secret foreign money."

If you haven't noticed, the Democrats love the word "foreign," almost as much as "corporate" and "Wall Street."

In a typical Democratic ad, embattled Majority Leader Harry Reid has a new spot labeling Republican Sharron Angle as "a foreign worker's best friend." It's not meant as a compliment. Angle supposedly supports shipping jobs to China and India, home to billions of workers who are inarguably foreign (although it's more doubtful that many of them are stealing US jobs).

Bizarrely, the party that's content to let millions of foreigners cross our southern border to live and work here without our permission has otherwise become a locus of foreigner-baiting political advocacy. Is it possible to be post-American and xenophobic at the same time? Suffice it to say that with the prospect of a November drubbing in the offing, the Obama Democrats are doing all they can to demonstrate they deserve it.

We're waiting for Joe Biden to tell us he stands corrected. We won't hold our breath.