Newsweek: "He's going to find a Cindy in every community across the US."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

On Monday night, White House officials told reporters traveling with the president that Bush would not make any public appearances on Tuesday and would instead spend the day mountain biking or fishing at Tamarack. What changed? Administration officials wouldn’t say exactly, telling reporters only that Bush had wanted to come out and make a few remarks that morning.

But perhaps by coincidence, the president’s surprise appearance coincided with the release of a new poll showing his job approval rating at its lowest point in his presidency. According to a Harris Interactive poll, only 40 percent of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of Bush’s job performance. That’s a significant decline since the last survey in June, when the Harris poll recorded a 45 percent job-approval rating. According to the poll, those surveyed ranked the war in Iraq as the most important issue facing the country today, surpassing concerns about the economy.

For a White House that professes to not care about polls, Bush’s advisers are concerned, which is why the public will see more of the president than usual during the final weeks of his month-long Texas sojourn. There will be slight tweaks in Bush’s language about the war, administration officials say, including a more somber message on the enemy the U.S. faces. “We know people are seeing the images that are coming from Iraq,” White House Communications Director Nicolle Devenish tells NEWSWEEK. “It’s a part of our responsibility to talk about those scenes of violence that people have been witnessing and discuss the enemy behind it and what we’re doing to fight the enemy.”

The question for the White House is whether it will be enough to stem the tide of rising concerns about the war and to counter the message of activists like Cindy Sheehan who are calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq sooner rather than later. In Idaho this week, one antiwar demonstrator declared, "He's going to find a Cindy Sheehan in every community across the United States." For Bush, that's not good news.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9067881/site/newsweek/page/2/

[senseandsensibility]

1. Keep ejucatin the murkin people about

the war, chimp! The more ejucatin and splainin you do, the lower your polls will go.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

2. Anybody see Commander Dimson's speech today? On the video

it looks like Chimpy has a new boo boo. The only picture I have found so far is this one -



right over his left eyebrow - and it wasn't there yesterday.

[cliss]

3. I think Bush's advisors are absolutely PARALYZED

by the sinking polls. Bush himself must be in shock, absolutely bombarded with pressure to "do something, anything". I most definitely believe this president DESPERATELY needs the public's support in this war of aggression.

Without people (i.e. volunteers) to fight in this war, he's FINISHED. He may as well throw in the towel and call it quits. He can't force people to go (at least not yet), so he actually has some accountability to the people, the families of those getting killed.

Cliss to Bush: Call it quits, old man. You're through.

[howmad1]

9. Absolutely paralyzed.

Good grief, time for another Pearl Harbor. Hmmmm, wonder what the PNAC has up thier sleeve in the next couple of months? My advice; stay out of tall buildings.}(

[belle]

10. I expect his goal now is to hide his head in the sand till his term is up.

He won't call a draft, and he won't bring them home; he'll just let it deteriorate while throwing out one smokescreen/patchup attempt after another till he gets to pack up and go to Crawford for good. Sure, he'll be loathed, but hey, that's nothing new for him; he can just keep stage managing little pep rallies for himself and shun the reality-based community until such time as he's impeached or something (good luck, with this Congress). Then he leaves his successor to clean up his mess, just like other people have *always* cleaned up his messes. And whatever that President does--get bogged down further or bring 'em home--he'll be blamed for the inevitable ugly aftermath. Ain't it grand.

[Donailin]

4. We ALL Have to be Cindy Sheehan

That's it, I'm making the sign for my car.

"What's the NOBLE CAUSE, Mr. Bush??"

I hope no matter where he goes, those words follow him. I hope he can't sleep at night. I hope he stutters and mumbles every times he opens his mouth. I hope there are less and less supporters to hand pick for his "speaking tours". I hope his cronies continue to make out of control statements like Robertson just did. I hope Rove is too busy figuring out how to get out of his coming indictment to be able to advise him. I hope all the failure he has created hits him like a ton of bricks verry soon to the point where he is no longer stable enough to face the american people. I hope he is shamed out of office by the end of the year.

[BeFree]

5. Sooner rather than later

His days are numbered. Like Nixon he will resign under pressure, hopefully before the end of this year.

Everywhere he goes, there will be a Cindy wanting to be heard.

[belle]

11. I highly doubt it (see above post). On the other hand...

hey, hope springeth eternal. and while I can't see him leaving before the end of the year, unless it's in a box (a PNAC attack chalked up to another pretzel malfunction, perhaps?) he's got three more years to ride out after that. Three long, loooonnnnggg years. At minimum, we can all make sure they're as long for him as they've been for us. And hey, maybe if we get a real change of guard in Congress...but I'm not counting those chickens just yet.

[cliss]

6. It's interesting you mention that.

They said on the radio today, that "Joan Baez was so close to Bush's ranch that he could hear the music from his bedroom window".

That's an encouraging thought.

Guess who else had to endure sounds that intruded on him? Lyndon Johnson. I read on a thread a long time ago, that during the VietNam war, protesters stayed outside the White House. I guess they were there all night, chanting songs right outside his bedroom window, from what it sounds.

I guess the Old Beagle-abuser couldn't take it any more. Within a few weeks, he handed in his resignation.

They knew what they were doing.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Lyndon Johnson resigned?

I didn't know that. And I was there. He preceeded my commander in chief for spell.

::::lookin' in history books:::::

[cliss]

8. Well, I think what Randi Rhodes said was that

he handed in his resignation, meaning he was not going to run for re-election. (I think....sorry, I'm an immigrant to this country and I don't know all that much about US history).

[Hekate]

14. LBJ finished out that term but announced he would not seek re-election

He (and Nixon) both had to listen to a lot worse noise than Joan Baez's clear soprano. "Hey, hey, LBJ -- how many kids did you kill today?" was one chant. One of his sons-in-law was in the military and got shipped out to Viet Nam -- he had to listen to his daughter ask him, with tears in her eyes, if he was really sure this war was right. That will never happen with the Chickenhawk's twins, will it?

The thing with LBJ is the man actually had a conscience, and he accomplished a lot of good while in office. After JFK was assassinated it was LBJ who arm-twisted civil rights legislation through Congress; it was LBJ's "Great Society" that gave us some very good social programs. The war in Viet Nam was his downfall, and a long hard fall it was.

Hekate

[Scout1071]

12. MSNBC should have made it clear that a mother of a slain soldier

said that quote. Not just some average "anti-war demonstrator." That's bullshit and I think we need to call them on it. It makes much more of an impact coming from another mother.

[calimary]

13. Good Lord, what a glorious photo - did you put it together?

JUST SUPERB! Little lord jackass superimposed over white crosses... GAWD what a great image. That needs to be sent out all over the 'net. This type of image needs to be epoxied into the minds of all Americans. He needs to be associated irrevocably with death, destruction, and needless loss. Good-good-good!

[texpatriot2004]

15. What a haunting photo. It's very appropriate. n/t

[radfringe]

16. interesting political cartoon in local paper

the cartoon showed Sheehan standing at a podium asking why her son died. Behind her was an Iraqi woman (in a burka) holding the Iraqi Constitution in one arm, and holding her "purple" finger in the air.

this leaves me to believe one of two things --

1. We invaded Iraq to bring freedom to Iraq (3rd or 4th 'excuse' - I've lost count on how many times the excuses have changed)

---or---

2. We invaded Iraq so Iraqi women can have purple fingers