FANTASTIC Newsweek Article on Republican Angst over Bush

[ShaneGR]

They are starting to jump ship, literally.

http://msnbc.com/news/985284.asp?0cv=CA01

(snip)
Hilary Cleveland of New London, N.H., goes way back with the Bush family. Her late husband, James Colgate (Jimmy) Cleveland, was a Republican in Congress, where his paddle-ball partner in the House gym was George H.W. Bush. Hilary served on the Andover board with Barbara Bush and was finance chair of Bush’s primary campaign in New Hampshire in 1980. She organized locally for George W. in 2000. But the other day, upset over the war in Iraq, she left the Republican Party, changing her registration to “undeclared” so she could vote for Dr. Howard Dean in the Democratic primary in January. “You don’t go to war without valid reason,” she said, “or international support.” Bush’s call for $87 billion in new spending on Iraq offended her Yankee sense of thrift: “I believe in fiscal integrity and balanced budgets, and spending so much doesn’t seem sound.”

(snip)
Until now. In a NEWSWEEK interview, McCain for the first time compared the situation in Iraq to Vietnam, where he survived six years of wartime imprisonment, and began openly distancing himself from Bush’s war strategy. McCain, aides say, was rankled by what he saw as a useless, Panglossian classified briefing, especially after reading Donald Rumsfeld’s now infamous internal memo. In it, the secretary of Defense said that Iraq would be a “long slog,” and admitted the government had no “metric” for knowing if it was making net progress in ridding the world of terrorists.

“This is the first time that I have seen a parallel to Vietnam,” McCain declared, “in terms of information that the administration is putting out versus the actual situation on the ground. I’m not saying the situation in Iraq now is as bad as Vietnam. But we have a problem in the Sunni Triangle and we should face up to it and tell the American people about it.” Also reminiscent of Vietnam, McCain said, was the administration’s reluctance to deploy forces with the urgency required for the quickest victory. “I think we can be OK, but time is not on our side... If we don’t succeed more rapidly, the challenges grow greater.”

[caledesi]

1. The Freepers are going wild! It is SO funny because

when facts and the truth come out in various mags or newspapers, they immediately start slamming the mag/newspaper. In the past though, it was easy they would just slam The Guardian (commie newspaper) etc., and everyone would be happy, still cheering and say things like "It isn't Time Magazine; I trust Time." Well now these poor, pathetic folks can't just drop the one-liner slam because the facts and truth are in most REPUTABLE magazines & newspapers (and it ain't pretty...their King is going down). They have nothing to read anymore! It is so funny to watch them throwing hissy fits....saying the Dems are terrorists and taking over the media! These people are sick.

edit: usual stuff

[Newsjock]

4. Pissed-off freepers

I will vouch for that, big-time. At my newspaper, we've just (in the past couple of weeks) started getting LOTS more angry comments from freeper readers.

What's making it worse is that some newspapers are still toeing the Bush party line. Case in point: We ran a story about the failure of the donors' conference, and we got deluged with nasty e-mail saying we should be more like the newspaper just up the road, the one that proclaimed that the world had boldly and generously come to Iraq's aid.

And, for what it's worth, nearly all of the comments we're getting are from people age 50 and over. Perhaps significant, perhaps not.

[Skittles]

7. hey Newsjock, a question

how do you know how old they are?

[Neecy]

5. what's funny about it...

...is that they loooooved Newsweek during election 2000 for their ugly coverage of Gore and the sickening fawning over the chimp.

Now the worm is turning, and Newsweek, which played a media part in the election of their hero, is the 'enemy'. It would be laughable if the consequences weren't so tragic.

[caledesi]

12. Oh yeah, they hate Newsweek now..call it Newsweak..

Aren't they the witty ones?

[alcuno]

9. Like chickens whose heads have been cut off.................

they are the last to realize their fate.

[gulliver]

2. Love that cover.

[Ernesto]

18. Can't wait for my issue to arrive

I just love to post this kind of stuff on the bulletin board out side my local country store. The redneck store's sign boasts that it is "Merican owned". My postings were removed immeadiatly until I started using spray glue...... that's gotta drive em crazy! HA!

[baby_bear]

3. Bottom's up, W.

Bushes celebrated at the Grand Palace in Bangkok while back at home, Republicans were growing uneasy.
-----

Here's to your imminent retirement from public life!

s_m

[Malva Zebrina]

14. the picture is funny

Laura looks absolutely awful in that monstrosity of a dress, and, sorry, but her hair looks as though she has not combed it in a week and it looks dirty. The dress is way too tight and clingy, emphasizing and enabling her quite dumpy look, as is the usual case, and Bush is looking outward into space at somewhere else--jiggling and probably tapping his foot because he cannot sit still for more than a minute. He is gulping down his drink before any have actually begun to drink the toasts. Laura is trying hard to find someone to smile at for the photo op, but no one is paying any attention to her--nevertheless as instructed, probably, she is smiling at the none person who is smiling at her. All of the people in the photo look as though they are totally disjointed and separate from each other--this is funny

I have not read the articles in Newsweek, but I hope that they do emphasize the loss of innocent life that Bush is responsible for,(murder in my eyes) as well as the bring em on taunt and the deaths of our soldiers as much as they seem to be emphasizing the outrageous amount of money spent on the "mess"

[VolcanoJen]

16. "He's gulping down his drink before anyone else.."

Hey, once a fratboy... :-)

What exactly is in his glass, I wonder...?

[linazelle]

19. That "dumpy" look could be taken care of with a new brassiere...

an industrial strength model of course.

[maggrwaggr]

20. why are you picking on his wife? That's like picking on Chelsea

It's out of line

[9215]

23. Very well said, insightful. n/t

[Wwagsthedog]

15. Are these people ignoring shrub and pickles?

n/t

[killbotfactory]

6. It's about goddamned time

How much more can Bush screw the country before people start to wake up?

[Skittles]

8. my guess, killbot?

A LOT more. x(

[Cat Atomic]

10. I'm still confused as to how a 51% approval rating

means the president is "well liked".

Bush remains personally well liked in New Hampshire—and nationally. According to the newest NEWSWEEK Poll, his job-approval rating is holding at 51 percent.

But yes, it does indeed look like the Bush Administration's facade is crumbling rapidly these days. The Wilson/Plame case could still drag them down over time, as could the situation in Iraq, the economy... etc.

But you know, the worse things get for the Bush crew, the more I expect a "terrorist" attack. I wouldn't put it past this bunch to start a new Operation Northwoods next year to boost their approval numbers- and I'm not generally a conspiracy-minded guy. I just can't put anything past them.

[Old and In the Way]

13. They can't steal an election if the polls reflect the truth.

I doubt that we'll see a lot more erosion in the numbers. If only 30% of the populace (basically, "the Base") approves, then how could they steal the next election?

Look for the number to be no less than 45%, well within the "margin of error" for Bush to win a second term....with the help of BBV of course. And I don't expect we'll see any exit polls come election day, either.

[gulliver]

22. It's a soft number.

Loads of people still haven't gotten the word about WMDs, uranium, the al Qaeda missing links, etc. In talking to my Republican friends, I sense growing embarrassment about Bush.

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. What it takes

“This is the first time that I have seen a parallel to Vietnam,” McCain declared.

Wow, the "Clue Threshold" for even the smarter republicans is remarkable.

[NicoleM]

17. Hmmm. . .

Could McCain be positioning himself to run against Shrubby? He'd be starting late and at a huge financial disadvantage, but if the base really is jumping ship then they would have another ship to jump to. And they would bring their checkbooks.

[maggrwaggr]

21. rats clinging to a sinking ship

Any republicans with half a brain would be distancing themselves from Shrub right now. I was actually a little shocked this morning to hear Hagel say he would support Bush and vote for him in 2004.

These guys need to realize that when they're guy goes down he's gonna go down big time and take all of them with him.

But ... they're not that smart.