Newsweek polls on Bush w/ Article

[Renew Deal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4614818/

Blow For Bush
Public confidence in the president’s handling of homeland security has been damaged by the testimony of former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke to the 9/11 panel this week, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll.

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brian Braiker
Newsweek
Updated: 2:14 p.m. ET March 27, 2004March 27 - Richard Clarke’s charge that George W. Bush largely ignored the Al Qaeda threat before the September 11 attacks has dealt a sharp blow to the president’s ratings on a crucial issue. According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, the percentage of voters who say they approve of the way the president has handled terrorism and homeland security has slid to 57 percent, down from a high of 70 percent two months ago. The survey was conducted after Clarke, a former counterterrorism chief in both the Bush and Clinton administrations, testified to the 9/11 commission on Wednesday. Still, the president’s overall approval rating remains steady at 49 percent and Bush remains neck and neck with presumptive Democratic Party nominee Senator John Kerry.

It was a week of difficult news for the Bush campaign: Gasoline prices hit a record high; stocks plummeted; predictions about Medicare's future were bleak; Washington’s tepid response to Israel’s killing of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin drew international fire and prompted fears of anti-U.S. retaliation. Then Clarke, whose book “Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror,” accuses the Bush administration of not treating terrorism as an urgent priority before the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, repeated his charges in testimony before the commission investigating them. With the president’s leadership in the war on terror the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, Bush saw drops in his approval ratings on both terrorism and Iraq. According to the poll, 44 percent of all voters approve of his handling of the war, whereas 50 percent disapprove (up from 39 percent disapproving at the end of last year). And more voters say Bush’s handling of postwar Iraq makes them less likely to vote for him (42 percent) than say it makes them more likely to support him (34 percent).
<snip>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4614818/

[gristy]

1. Good news!

But a dupe. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x42026

[buycitgo]

2. Bush boils baby in oil, eats head at campaign stop

approval rating steady at 49%

[sadiesworld]

3. LOL!

[are_we_united_yet]

4. subtext

"Influenced by Clinton policies; proclaims his innocence"