we interviewed, betty you mentioned, don ritchie, dick baker, kate scott.tc. >> they are all in the historians office. >> or used to be in the historians office. dick baker has a much different take on the senate. now that he's out, he's able to talk a little more fully. although i would say, i found all the ones, betty, kate, and daniel, who work for the senate now, they were very honest, some of the most honest commentary in the program comes from them. talking about dissatisfaction from members these days, that everything is more controlled by leaders except -- instead of the regular order and it gets hammered out like that. they were very, very honest. >> again, people watching saying, what is wrong is they waste time talking about poetry. how do you explain that and how much of a day on the floor is the kind of thing that irritates the public, and why the percentage of approval is so low? >> well, the public is very irritable, obviously. the senate, the ratings for congress normally hovers in the teens. their approval ratings. is senator in the program

don ritchie said the approval ratings, they're often rated lower than car salesman. think orrin hatch said that. but they get reelected at a high rate. it's an interesting part of our system. ben sasse, when he made his maiden speech, said i went back to my district, and what i hear is a pox on this country from both parties. if my constituents had a chance to throw out all of us instead of elect me, they would throw out all of us. brian: ben sasse is a republican from nebraska. mark: correct. brian: here's some video, again, of robert byrd and al d'amato. al d'amato got out of the senate in 1999. he had been there 18 years. he's still alive. watch this. [video clip] >> i want to make the point that this is out of order. and that we are not doing this body any good on this. >> i ask for regular order. i know enough about the senate rules to know -- that i have not violated rule 19. and the senator can just -- >> i want a ruling on the floor. i think the senator now has gone beyond what is provided for -- >> if the senator would shut his own mouth and let the chair ru