Bush's political woes stretch beyond Katrina

[UpInArms]

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-09-22T213941Z_01_EIC272470_RTRUKOC_0_US-BUSH-POLITICS.xml

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's mounting political woes extend far beyond Hurricane Katrina's fallout, with high gas prices, low public confidence and growing opposition to the Iraq war rivaling the storm controversy as long-term threats.

Bush's approval rating, battered in the last few weeks by criticism over a slow and ineffectual early response to the storm, was slumping well before the hurricane ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast, pollsters said.

"It's a mistake to assume that somehow this is a short-term problem caused by Katrina. This is just a continuation of the track he's been on since January," said Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup poll.

Bush's slide in the polls has been driven by deepening doubts about the Iraq war and pessimism about the economy, the two issues consistently chosen by voters as the most important to them, he said.

Bush's political problems could be compounded by powerful Hurricane Rita, which is bearing down on the Texas coast and expected to send gas prices soaring again, and another vacancy on the Supreme Court that could spark a nasty political fight.

...more...

[Radio_Lady]

1. Well, we talked about this in 2000 and 2004, after our losses...

Things have to get really bad before the pendulum starts to swing back. I'm ready, are you?

Just sent letters to Sen. Ron Wyden (D) and Sen. Gordon Smith (R) urging them to reject John Roberts. It was a form letter. I just couldn't believe that Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold and that other Democrat from Wisconsin on the Judiciary Committee actually voted "FOR" this bright, handsome, oily, slithering SOB. We've got him, I guess, for a long time after I'm gone, unless he gets hit by a car or something.

[rodeodance]

3. well, Hil Clinton said tonight she would not vote for him. Good for her.

[texpatriot2004]

6. We didn't lose in 2000 and we didn't lose in 2004 either. In 2000

the "High" Court selected him and in 2004 they rigged the electronic voting machines that their friends built for them. If we don't fix the "election" system we will never win again.

[despairing optimist]

2. Maybe Archer Daniels Midland can build an ethanol pipeline to Crawford

* wouldn't need to stretch so often if the sauce came out of a water fountain.

[Radio_Lady]

4. Where's my Texas map? Does Rita look like it could hit the Crawford

Ranch?

No? Damn it!!!

[superconnected]

5. I thought of that the second I heard Rita was heading for Texas.

What I really want is someone on the inside to squeal about Diebold and it to be traced to the Republican party right up to the Bush Administration. Now that would be a nice thing to happen to the guy. If we can only get him out for election fraud like nixon.

[sando]

12. The one thing to hit Crawford might be

Tropical winds that could spawn a Texas sized twister ...At least that's my hope and I am a native Texan who has wished forever that oil had never been found here. It ruined a perfectly good state. Oh the other thing that might hit Crawford if the prevailing winds are blowing in the right direction would a be chemical cloud of deadly fumes from all those wonderful chemicals they use in the refineries in Beaumont and Port Arthur. The problem with either of those two scenarios is that all they would do would be to kill more innocent if politically blind people.

[ladylibertee]

7. This is true.See,the White House and Bush supporters act like

they are surprised that his poll numbers are still at all time lows.I don't think they realize that the public does not have amnesia.Everyone remembers well that Bush's poll numbers were low BEFORE Katrina , and they are still low after Katrina.Even if the government is more successful with their response to Rita,It will still be too late for Bush.Why? The war in Iraq,and this latest doosey.He removed the protection for workers wages so they can be paid less.ASS HOLE !!!!He is not doing anything to help himself at all.At all, I say.:(

[radfringe]

8. The good news for Bush is that the ball is in his court.... WTF?

"The good news for Bush is that the ball is in his court and he can turn things around," Winston said. "But he's going to have to perform."

ball? court? thought he nominated Roberts for the courts -- not a ball... lol

..."But he's going to have to perform." -- betcha he's practicing his "compassionate face" right now....

[Born Free]

9. get ready for the right wing...

All you are going to hear is how great he was this time, he truned the corner, he is on track now, he is the hero , another full scale PR campaigned on every news outlet you have access to and the elected democrats will crawl into a corner and hide, as usual.

[nevergiveup]

10. At this point a great majority

of the American people do not want to see his face and they are bored with his photo-ops. As I see it, the only two happenings that could save Chimpy's ass are another 9/11 or the second coming of Christ.

[warrens]

11. Repukes always overreach

They pull some bullshit patriot/xtian act to buffalo the stupid and bigoted into voting for them, then start believing that winning (or stealing) an election means that voters endorsed all their wacko ideas. That's what the punk meant by mandate and political capital, that people endorsed gutting the environment, lying about war, etc. etc. Well, they didn't. They voted for Smirk because of a smear campaign on Kerry and democrats in general. They're stupid and selfish people, but they're not TOTAL morons.

They don't want nazis on the Supreme Court, they don't like this ugly war one bit, they know that the economy is only good if you happen to be a rich corporate type, and they are strongly in favor of water you can drink and air you can breathe.

Smirk is now down to levels seen only by LBJ and Nixon. By rights, he should be even lower, but since those days we've seen the rise of the Limbaugh wing of arrogant, thuggish, shithead Republicans. They will never admit a mistake, never take anything back. They'd rather die than admit they were wrong. And they're about a third of the country, but think they're two-thirds.

When we take back the White House and Congress, we have to make sure not to act like Democrats. Instead, we have to punish these thugs, totally ostracize them, pry them out of the Federal government, kick their asses out of Washington and starve them to death. Clinton didn't do that, and they just burrowed in to the bureaucracy (hello, Linda Tripp) and engaged in influence peddling and intimidation of the Washington press corps, preparing to seize power any way they could. Which turned out to be by sliming anyone on the other side, then stealing an election.

Democrats have to go on the attack as soon as we win, paint the AEI and Federalist Society as the traitors they are, and just gut the infrastructure these fascists have set up. Otherwise, they'll be back, more vicious than ever.