Reply #17: Rita gives Bush a chance to reconnect with his base [View All]

[UpInArms]

OMG - that headline! We know who his "base" really is. :eyes:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f4eec734-2b96-11da-995a-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=6ab6c2fa-1adf-11da-a117-00000e2511c8.html

The prospect of a category 4 hurricane slamming the shores of his home state of Texas is hardly welcome news, but for President George W. Bush, Hurricane Rita offers a rare second chance at a political action replay: to do what he failed to do after Hurricane Katrina - show that he is in command.

Over the last two weeks Mr Bush's fabled political instincts have deserted him. He has veered between a stunned passivity to playing a munificent Santa, from a distant fly-over of the region to five ground visits, and from a policy of delegation to one that attempts to micro-manage relief efforts.

When relatives are wheeled out to the rescue - with George H.W. Bush, the former president, and his wife Barbara defending their son on television - it is clear that the mood is mordant. Their familial appeals have had little effect. Recent polls have recorded some of the worst approval ratings of Mr Bush's presidency, at about 40 per cent.

“This is worse now,” says one sympathetic Republican senator. “It was a house where the foundations were weak because of Iraq, and a strong wind has blown. The president is weaker today than he has ever been. No question.”

<snip>

“The thing that has worried me for most of the year is that the economy is very good, but the majority of voters don't think so,” says Charlie Black, a Republican strategist. “Pocketbook issues matter for the ability to win elections in 2006.”

...more...

More great laffs in a full reading!