Bush hits new low in national polling

Yes, the Decider has gone into a tailspin and dropped to 19% support among the American public.

Four polls show McCain at a disadvantage to Obama if the election were held today.
Fox: McCain loses 43/47
Diageo: McCain loses 40/48
Zogby: McCain loses 40/47
Gallup: McCain loses 46/50

Of course, we still have eight months of a declining economy, McCain sucking up to Bush, the Sahwa turning on the Iraqi government, and Afghanistan sliding into failed state mode. We have eight months for Norm Coleman to do his incredible chameleon act and temporarily transform into a Democrat. We still have eight months of Republicans striking poses and the public snickering at them. And we have eight months of Administration hacks putting a flashlight under their faces and telling very scary stories that only their base believes anymore. Uh-huh, the Muslims are going to take over the country and make your daughter wear a burqa. Heard that one already.

story from ARG

February 20, 2008

Concerns over Economy Push
George W. Bush's Overall Job Approval to New Low

George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has dropped to a new low in American Research Group polling as 78% of Americans say that the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote, 18% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 78% disapprove. When it comes to the way Bush is handling the economy, 15% of registered voters approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 79% disapprove.

A total of 78% of Americans say the national economy is getting worse and 47% say the national economy is in a recession. A total of 42% of Americans, however, say they believe the national economy will be better a year from now, which is the highest level for this question in the past year. This optimism does not spread to improvements in household financial situations as 17% of Americans say they expect their household financial situations to be better a year from now, which is the lowest for this question in the past year.

The results presented here are based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews conducted among a nationwide random sample of adults 18 years and older. The interviews were completed February 16 through 19, 2008. The theoretical margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, 95% of the time, on questions where opinion is evenly split.

Overall, 19% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president, 77% disapprove, and 4% are undecided.

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Among Republicans (29% of adults registered to vote in the survey), 45% approve of the way Bush is handling his job and 50% disapprove. Among Democrats (43% of adults registered to vote in the survey), 1% approve and 99% disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job. Among independents (28% of adults registered to vote in the survey), 17% approve and 75% disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president.

Overall, 14% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling the economy, 79% disapprove, and 7% are undecided. Among registered voters, 15% approve and 79% disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy.

A total of 1% of Americans say that the national economy is getting better, 20% say it is staying the same, and 78% say the national economy is getting worse.

Meanwhile, the Fox News poll has Bush dropping one point since last month to 32% approval. Bush has not exceeded 38% in the Fox News poll in the past year. NBC/WSJ has seen Bush's "very favorable" ratings drop from 31% to 14% in the past year.

The last Gallup Poll early this month had 57% saying that the Iraq invasion was "a mistake".

These numbers are what the Republicans are running on. A "mistake" of a war, an economy that 1% says is improving, and continuation of policies that only 19% support. Yet, just as before the 2006 elections, we hear wildly delusional Republicans looking forward to a big victory. For fun, take a look at the predictions from those wacky folks over at Redstate.

Republicans say "Give the Surge a Chance"

From Fox News, we have the latest (5/6) brave Republican rhetoric from John Boehner (House Republican Leader):

“We don’t even have all of the 30,000 additional troops in Iraq yet, so we’re supporting the president. We want this plan to have a chance of succeeding,” he said.

“Over the course of the next three to four months, we’ll have some idea how well the plan’s working. Early signs are indicating there is clearly some success on a number of fronts,” he said.

"A number of fronts", eh? Isn't zero a number?
So why aren't all of the additional troops in Iraq yet? It's been about four months now that Bush has been promising big things from this "surge". If this plan is so wonderful and foolproof, why the wait?

The answer is that the entire surge strategy is really nothing more than a political stall for domestic consumption, and that we don't actually have all of those troops to spare in the first place. Bush is calling on imaginary legions, and the neocons love it!
So now the new date is June 1 to "start the clock", which was originally supposed to be six weeks. That would be July 13. And this is giving Bush the five months prior to this that he was claiming the surge was in effect and producing success "on a number of fronts", but which is now "no fair" to include as "on the clock". Okay. But watch for Republicans to say they had their fingers crossed when they said "six weeks".
By the time the clock is actually started, we'll see Republicans and their ventriloquist dummies in the military say that six months of "surge" is what any sane and patriotic person knows they really meant. This pushes us into December.

Either that, or Bush's definition of "victory" will have been changed to mean "the ability of Iraq's Parliament to convene in the Green Zone". Watch Republicans say that "nobody can deny this is a great step forward", even though they've been doing that for years.
I'm not quite sure if it's sad or scary to realise that the majority of the Republicans' supporters believe that they will all be swept away in the Rapture before Bush leaves office anyway.

In any case, it looks like Boehner thinks the surge will last at least until early September, which is the date that Petraeus has been tossing around. This makes the surge an eight month operation, at best. That's sounding more like an escalation than a "surge". The "surge" was billed as a relatively short operation that would give the Iraqi government time to stabilise and deal with the civil war. Now it's become some kind of major escalation to wipe out Al-Qaeda once and for all, except that Bush is now saying that a certain level of Al-Qaeda violence is acceptable in his new definition of "victory". Okay, so now were stretching our military to its utter limits in an effort to reduce Al-Qaeda's impact in Iraq. If Bush tried sellling that plan back in January, I doubt that even Boehner would've bit.
We still have no hard date from any Republican or military spokesman telling us when we can definitely say the "surge" has failed. This is not a timetable that "our enemies" would have to wait out, since Bush clearly is going to keep the surge going until he leaves office. It's just a benchmark by which we say if Bush's plan failed or succeeded. The fact that the man can't even give us a straight answer on that score speaks volumes.
Faith and optimism do not negate reality. If I really, really believe that I can drive 100 miles on an empty gas tank, when my car is sitting on the roadside, my faith will not fill that tank back up. We've tried crossing our fingers. We've tried rabbit's feet. We've tried clicking our heels together. Now we're just simply waiting for a miracle and calling that leadership.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that in the same Fox news interview John Boehner said in no uncertain terms that there is no civil war in Iraq. It's just us fighting terrorists. So those sectarian forces that Bush and Petraeus have been bragging about defeating with the surge are really non-existent? These guys better get their lies straight.