A White House strength shows signs of change

[Pale Blue Dot]

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/7877255.htm

President Bush's performance as commander in chief was supposed to be his strong suit in the November election, but questions about his leadership suddenly have forced him on the defensive.

With the week only half over, Bush had reversed course on the need for an investigation into prewar intelligence in Iraq, reluctantly agreed to extend an investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and fended off questions about his military service.

In a sign of potential political damage, a new Gallup poll shows that voters trust Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts - the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination - more than Bush to decide when U.S. troops should go to war. And, for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, fewer than half of Americans - 49 percent - say the war was worth it.

"If that goes below 50 percent and stays there, it's a real significant problem for the Bush administration," said Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief. "All the discussion about the rationale is beginning to have some effect on Americans."

I'm seeing more and more articles like this.:bounce:

[liberalhistorian]

1. And it's about fucking time!

I really, really, REALLY hope this manages to stick, because nothing else seems to have done it.

[ClintonTyree]

4. Lets face it.............

had the Democrats made this an issue a few years ago, when I may add that we DU'ers were well aware of these facts, the entire subject would have been swept under rugs, debunked, buried and have been long forgotten. The timing of this is almost perfect to stop the Chimp and his pals dead in their tracks before November.
I know it's a crazy thought, but does anyone beside me think that the Democrats might have done the right thing here in not drumming on these issues until now? Maybe our Democratic leaders aren't the inept buffoons that we think they are. Perhaps they chose the battleground and the time of the battle better than we give them credit for? Just a crazy thought, I know.

[Cooley Hurd]

10. I see your point...

...but if the Dems in congress AND the media actually did their jobs and investigated the concerns of people like:
David Albright
Robert Baer
Milt Bearden
Rand Beers
Bill Christison
Kathleen McGrath Christison
David Corn
Philip Coyle
John Dean
Patrick Eddington
Chas Freeman
Graham Fuller
Mel Goodman
John Brady Kiesling
Karen Kwiatkowski
Patrick Lang
Dr. David C. MacMichael
Ray McGovern
Scott Ritter
The Rt Honorable Clare Short
Stansfield Turner
The Honorable Henry Waxman
Thomas E. White
Joe Wilson
Colonel Mary Ann Wright
Peter Zimmerman
...then hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqis would still be alive.

Screw politics. This is about life and death. :(

[ClintonTyree]

11. The Dems were........

outnumbered by a wide margin on this issue. Chimpy McWarhardon was going to have his war and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He didn't listen to the U.N. millions of protesters around the world and the governments of myriad countries.
They were powerless and would have been deemed 'unpatriotic' had they made a major issue out of it then.
It's not only sad, but criminal what the Bush administration has done. I agree with you 100% on that issue. But there was no way to stop these madmen at that time. It was a done deal.

[cid]

14. Until Dean and Clark spoke up, the Dems said nothing and rolled

over on everything because they were scared of the polls. Even if they thought it was wrong, they didnt have the guts to stand up and say that. They waited til they saw what happened to Clark and Dean. When they saw that ppl actually agreed with Clark and Dean, then all off sudden they all started getting a slight backbone. Look back at some of your posts about "spineless democrats". What do you think will happen if the reps keep congress and pull something like they did with clinton..you know where if he didnt sign the bill, the govt would close down? Remember that? Clinton didnt blink and let it shut down despite the danger of it affecting his poll numbers. I dont see Kerry or Edwards having the spine to do that, based on the last few years.

[Alpharetta]

15. Senator Robert Byrd and Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Two men with courage, in my opinion, who stood against the popular post-9/11 sentiment of "let's get one in the win column, regardless of how it affects the war on terror."

[snippy]

12. I agree, but the steady downtrend in Bush's approval ratings since 9/11

indicates that day by day and voter by voter the Bushshit is sticking as Americans look at Bush himself rather than the terror of 9/11. Bush has ridden the wave of the psychological trauma of 9/11 as far as it will carry him.

[Just Me]

2. Heh, heh, I anticipated their dependency upon focus groups,...

,...would eventually leave them spinning in their own spin *LOL*!!! The propagandists deserve to be left dizzying in their own lies :D

[wildwww2]

3. Iraq is not a war. It is a war crime. Commited and provided by Bu$h Co.

With poor American`s tax dollars being thrown into the GOP abyss.
Just what they had planned all along. And they will be begging for another tax cut for the rich again. Because some things never change.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[ixion]

5. All the discussion about the rationale...

if only they would have been listening BEFORE the war. :-(

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. It will now take a major terrorist attack or

a rigged election to keep the Child King in the White House.

[underpants]

8. Code Red in early November?

Capturing Osama might do it too.

W is in BIG trouble even Russert said yesterday that ~"this is going to be one long fight all the way to November".

[Bonhomme Richard]

13. I don't think an attack will help him

It will only be looked at as another failure on his watch. It appears that the people have finally had enough of his bullshit and don't believe anything he says anymore. He is in deep shit. A friend of mine thinks that the only thing that can save him is if the economy picks up but the pickup in the economy has to be good jobs and that ain't goin to happen.
I am convinced that this administration is done.

[RedEarth]

7. Good news...

I'm hoping the media has the gonads to keep reporting the truth and to start truly questioning Bush about Iraq, 911, CIA outing, etc....

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. They were so damn sure of themselves

They had all the answers. Their Intel was indisputable. But of course they couldn't show it to anyone because this Intel was so sensitive. Then Collin Powell went to the UN with a laundry list of items, waving a bottle of anthrax in order to convict Saddam. Bu$h in his SOTU again presented a similar laundry list claiming Saddam had large stockpiles of all kinds of dangerous things. Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Perle, all of them told us over and over what a danger Saddam was to US security and that they had Intel that of course they couldn't show us to prove it.

Now the US controls Iraq and we are finding out that the people who are in control are the worst of liars and that they have lied about everything and they continue to lie to cover up their criminal deeds. I can't wait till this phase of Americans history finally comes to an end.