How low can Bush numbers go?

[paineinthearse]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/262021_carlson08.html

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

How low can Bush numbers go?

MARGARET CARLSON
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST

The latest CBS News poll has support for the president and his vice president dropping to 34 percent and 18 percent, respectively. If you add them together and divide by 2, you get a joint approval rating of 26 percent, 2 points above Richard Nixon's pre-resignation level. How did George W. Bush drop so low? There are many moving parts: Gas prices are high, pensions are fading and the working class is struggling.

There are events that make it look like the fix is in for those in power: Halliburton caught but not punished for gouging the military, a drug bill benefiting drug companies, a Bush crony who is governor of Mississippi getting Katrina reconstruction money while New Orleans gets stiffed. And there is, of course, the war.

For all these troubles, and many more, Bush would be doing better if he hadn't lost his ear. Gone is the man who picked up the bullhorn at ground zero, replaced by someone so clueless about the Dubai ports deal that he admitted he was out of the loop on the decision and then stubbornly went on to defend it.

Rovie, you're not doing one heckuva job. The Old Bush would have announced he was going to get to the bottom of the Dubai decision now that he was on the case. He would have feigned alarm, if not felt it, that a company owned by the country that was home to two of the 9/11 hijackers, and that recognized the Taliban but not Israel, would be doing business at six major U.S. ports.

more....

Margaret Carlson is a columnist for Bloomberg News; [e-mail].

[TomInTib]

1. Great article, thanks.

[babylonsister]

2. Do you think Rovie is otherwise occupied, i.e. Fitz? Hope

abounds!

[paineinthearse]

4. Absolutely

Has anyone else noticed the political fuck-ups piling up, one after another, like a trainwreck, ever since Scooter was whisked away?

The latest snafu.....

NYT Editorial
Mr. Bush's Asian Road Trip
Published: March 7, 2006

There is a lot of good a president can do on a visit to another country: negotiate treaties that enhance American security, shore up a shaky alliance, generate good will in important parts of the world. Unfortunately, President Bush didn't do any of those good things on his just-completed visit to Pakistan and India and may have done some real harm.

<snip>

But sticking Mr. Musharraf with the unwelcome task of explaining to Pakistanis why his friend and ally, Mr. Bush, had granted favorable nuclear terms to Pakistan's archrival, India, while withholding them from Pakistan left him less likely to do Washington any special, and politically unpopular, favors on the terrorism front.

It's just baffling why Mr. Bush traveled halfway around the world to stand right next to one of his most important allies against terrorists —and embarrass him. India and Pakistan are military rivals that have fought each other repeatedly. They have both developed nuclear weapons outside the nonproliferation treaty, which both refuse to sign. When India exploded its first acknowledged nuclear weapons eight years ago, Pakistan felt obliged to follow suit within weeks.

So when Mr. Bush agreed to carve out an exception to global nonproliferation rules for India, it should have been obvious that Pakistani opinion would demand the same privileged treatment, and that Mr. Musharraf would be embarrassed by Mr. Bush's explicit refusal to provide it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/opinion/07tue1.html

Is KKKarl.....
1. Distancing himself? OR
2. Preparing his defense? OR
3. Covering his turdblossom ass and singing to Fitz?

[babylonsister]

5. Yes, we're noticing, Paine!

:hi:

[FloridaPat]

3. Didn't it take 3-4 days for * to show up in NYC? As I remember,

Clinton & Gore had started flying back to Washington before our idiot in chief. He visited the Pentagon and NYC and joke away both times. I watched closely just to see what was on his mind. I figured at the Pentagon - well he never really served in the armed forces, so he probably really didn't care. But the show in NYC showed exactly what kind of jerk he was.

[Catfight]

6. There's no 'old' bush and new bush...he's been the same inept

capitalist he's always been. I hate the bullhorn 9/11 story...it was over the top and not appropriate for the tragedy. He was little miss muffin under the big oak tree....I would have preferred Clinton any day, at least he would have FELT something about the loss instead of wanting to blow up anyone who wasn't an American.

Margeret Carlson is a bush lover underneath disappointment 'her guy' isn't as popular to 'normal' people as they'd all like.

[ixion]

7. yep, you beat me to it

you can hear the undertones of love for that idiot in her prose.

The 'Old Bush'? Puh-leeze. There has always and only been one spoiled, little frat-boy moron, who was NEVER elected to begin with.