Bush approval ratings may have just gone up!

[Cascadian]

With Saddam's capture, I am suspecting that Bush's approval ratings have just gone up. While I am glad he has been caught, my fear is Bush now has the opportunaity to a feather in his cowboy hat. :-(

John

[kentuck]

1. Still all hat and no turkey.....

:)

[Sean Reynolds]

2. They'll go up.....but once our boys start dying, they'll come back down.

I think they'll shoot to about 65% for the rest of December. The holidays will flood the media and we'll all forget about Saddam. Then there will be a few (sadly) deaths of our boys and people will remember why he was doing poorly in the polls. By mid January he'll be back to around 50% and Iraq will still be a mess.

[qanda]

4. Then the SOTU Address and his numbers will go back up

They will go up and down for the rest of his presidency, which hopefully is just one more year.

[wuushew]

5. That is why Bush is proceeding with the Iraqification process

Same as Vietnam. As long enough of the Iraq army does not go awol and haliburton has some business BFEE comes away winners

[LoZoccolo]

3. What's weird is that today is no different than yesterday, really.

We still have the problems in Iraq that we did yesterday with people not wanting us there, and effectively, there's really no difference between Saddam not in power hiding out somewhere and Saddam captured. It doesn't really improve our situation any.

[oasis]

10. Rove told the media they did a poor job of hyping the Uday and Qusay

event and not to let it happen again when they finally got Saddam.

[LuminousX]

6. It is a feather in Bush's cap

Let's not gloss over the reality of it. This is one of the things we've been hitting Bush over the head with, Osama and Hussein still on the loose. Well, Hussein has been captured. And Osama may turn up in a few months also.

That is why we can't be running against Bush on just this singular issues. We have to run against Bush based on his entire administration: Patriot Act, Preemptive War, Corporate Cronyism (We got Hussein, how about Ken Law next?), and the entire giant list.

Applaud when something good happens. Thank god we didn't pull Hussein out dead because that would have only increased the hate against Americans.

[Granite]

11. Yes! Did anyone think we wouldn't catch Sadam?

I wrote this in another thread that got burried earlier - but did anyone really think we wouldn't catch Saddam? There really weren't too many places he could go - it was just a matter of time, and while my initial reaction to this was a partisan one (I still haven't watched any of the news coverage), I think most reasonable people expected this sooner or later. And I know that this is a good thing - particularly for the Iraqis who suffered under SH.

The problem with the three big questions - what about Saddam? what about OBL? what about the economy? - is the inevitability of catching Sadam, catching OBL, and an improving economy. What then? When we get past the initial distractions, Republican self-congratulations, and media-euphoria over this, we have to begin to try to re-position the discussion back to issues that we can control - jobs creation, healthcare, true homeland security, strengthening public education, and the rest.

I'm not down on our chances in 2004 if we have the right message, the right candidate, and the right strategic approach. Pinning our hopes for victory on a bad economy or the fact that we haven't found 2 guys that should already be in the bag just isn't good strategy, IMHO.

On edit: spelling/grammar!

[thetone]

7. Saddam's capture.

All we have to do is pass around a picture of the bearded,
decrepid Saddam with a caption:  "We got this for our
$150 Billion!"

[aquart]

8. I like that.

[Iverson]

9. hold your breath

What you need to ask, since the cheerleading corporate media won't, is "can the troops come home yet, or was this all about oil?" If we take the neocons at their word, the liberation of Iraq is all done. Now, we know that they only lie, but Mr. and Mrs. Middle America needs to hear people ask it.

Approval ratings will be whatever they are. Pay no attention. We have work to do.

[arewethereyet]

12. may have ? the bump will register on the Riechter Scale

merry Christmas George.

[Malva Zebrina]

13. May have?

I would say that is an understatement. Bush has taken front stage on this wonderful event of the capture of the famed Saddam Hussein, enemy of his father and enemy of the son and threat to the entire world <snerk>--he is supported by those who will say that Saddam's capture is the best thing since sliced bread because Saddam was an evil tyrant who gassed his own people. We have now been saved from any further terrorist attacks?

These people have just handed the election to Bush. He will milk it and milk it and milk it. No matter how lacking and stupid he is, no matter how ignorant, he is raising millions and millions of dollars, being paid for his trips halfway by us, ironically, and he will prevail with this piece of sensational news. He will drag up Saddam ad nauseum, until it becomes a meme in the heads of the voters, Even Democrats have fallen prey to the evil man who gassed his own people, meme. This is the particular genius of his ministry of propaganda. It works.

We have seen the genius of his well oiled, well financed propaganda machine and it is not unreasonable to suggest that they are far more clever than we could ever realize. It is not unreasonable to suggest that they will take this and run with it for all it is worth and more.

What else is left? The economy is booming, they say. No one refutes that. They have promised to take care of senior citizens and they have done that, they say, and few refute that--in fact, they, the opposition, voted for the damn thing. and we know all the other things they "say" that are really disguised lies. No one has said anything.

I think that, now, Dean is wasting his talent as is Clark, the two I think had the best chance to oust Bush.

Sorry, I know that is cynical and negative, but there comes a time to be realistic, otherwise one cannot form any kind of strategy. I am extremely disappointed at the Bush support I see here on DU re the capture of Saddam.

[arewethereyet]

14. he will milk it to be sure

but its 11 months till its over. is this udder THAT big ?

[andym]

15. Understatement

Understatement

Big question for long-term effects is whether Iraq stabilizes. If it does, which I think is likely, then see my post for speculation on the consequences for political strategy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=907797