Buyer's remorse: The Bush story the press won't tell

[ProSense]

Tue, Sep 19, 2006 11:43am EST

Buyer's remorse: The Bush story the press won't tell

—Eric Boehlert

Snip...

...Yet Bush's second-term performance is rarely mentioned in the same breath as Nixon's.

Quite the contrary, despite historic dissatisfaction with Bush, the press continues to depict him as the central, charging force in American politics, while setting aside all sorts of time and energy trying to document Bush's (we're told) inevitable rebound.

Snip...

In truth, the much-hyped June bounce was all but non-existent. From mid-June -- the time of Bush's "best week ever" -- to early July, the Fox News poll had Bush's job approval rating going from 40 down to 36, NBC/Wall Street Journal had it going from 40 down to 39, Hotline from 41 down to 38, CNN from 37 to 40, USA Today from 37 to 40, Time from 35 to 35, and Pew from 36 to 36.

But set aside for a moment whether Bush's bounces were real or not. The real question is, where is the context? Why does the press uniformly report on Bush's public standing as if it existed in a vacuum, as if there weren't modern polling data from the last 70 years to compare and contrast it with? Why, for instance, is there virtually no mention of the fact that Bush is currently running between 20 and 30 points behind where his predecessor was during his sixth year in office?

Snip...

Here then, is some much-needed historical perspective to put Bush's standing in context:

According to Gallup, on the eve of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, he was suffering the worst job-approval ratings of his presidency -- 58 percent.

In 1968, when the war in Vietnam was claiming hundreds of U.S. casualties each week, President Lyndon Johnson was considered so unpopular that he didn't even run for re-election. Johnson's average Gallup approval rating for that year was 43 percent.

When Reagan's second term was rocked by the Iran-Contra scandal, his ratings plummeted, all the way down to 43 percent.

This year, according to the Gallup numbers, Bush has averaged an approval rating of 37 percent.
Bush's dismal ratings put him well within range of the country's recent failed presidencies, like the one of his father, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. That's the historical company Bush keeps, although you'd never know that from journalists who refuse to connect the dots and refuse to treat Bush's second term as the failure that a majority of Americans say it is.

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200609190002

[opihimoimoi]

1. The ODDs have it the Bush Presidency will suffer additional setbacks

The GOP will taint themselves as they cling to him.

They think they KNOW all the answers but when the fruits ripen...its all bitter/sour.

We CAN do so much better...all it takes is to wake up and clean the mind of PUB Spin and BS

Easier said than done...but we have no choice but to start/try.

[underpants]

2. Liberal media

Recommended

[gratuitous]

3. 9/11 changed everything

Or something like that.

I have no earthly idea why the American media are so in the tank for this president and his corrupt cabal. They don't treat anyone nicely; they don't try to curry favor; they snap, snarl and bite, even their putative supporters; and their poll numbers are south of south. Yet the media continue to fawn over George and his den of thieves as if we were seeing the second coming of FDR and his brain trust.

[ClassWarrior]

4. No, 08/06/01 changed everything.

:evilgrin:

NGU.

[kath]

7. Actually, Dec. 12, 2000 changed everything.

[babylonsister]

5. It's their corporate whore bosses. I have to believe

some journalists are being censored and, if they want their paychecks, they have to go along with it.

[loudsue]

14. Because bush is a media-made president. There has NEVER been

any substance to him. If it weren't for the corporate owned media keeping the republicans on a pedestal, bush would have been run out on a rail a long time ago.

If the press as a whole would only tell the truth. Ha! When hell freezes over.

:kick::kick::kick:

[blm]

15. Did 9-11 change everything or corporations buying up media control change

everything?

[ProSense]

6. Splat!

[ProSense]

8. LA Times/Bloomberg poll

Bush no clear policy on terror (reacts to events as they happen) 62%
Iraq not worth going to war 57%
Iraq diverting resourse from fighting terrorism 61%
Iraq in civil war 58%

[AX10]

9. K & R!

[whometense]

10. I think this is a more accurate take.

I've been TRYING to watch Hardball to gauge what's going on, but it really messes with my head.

They have been trying mightily to spin this "uptick" in Shrubbo's approval ratings as a trend, but I don't buy it. The most rational explanation is that the 9/11 anniversary gave him a platform to sway back a few of the braindead types who believe whatever hype the likes of Chris Matthews are feeding them.

If you were to believe the msm reading, the repukes are on the upswing, they'll maintain control of congress, and soon everyone will love Bush again. To which I say, LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But if you watch these shows, you might well be convinced this is the truth. They lie so smoothly. Not a single wince of conscience in evidence. But, as Boehlert says, they are so heavily invested in Bush's success at this point they just can't afford to revisit the actual evidence.

My :tinfoilhat: tells me they are working the edges. So long as the polls show a 4-5% difference or less, the election is stealable.

[Cosmocat]

13. Yeah ...

They got a slight "bump" going into 9-11 with the failed Atlantic hijacking plot, where we barely adverted a major disaster because of the brits, which ... SOMEHOW pushed dullards into Bushco's brave arms ... Then, you KNEW they were going to make a big deal out of the 5th year 9-11 anniversary ... That was a given ...

Together, those two events took a bit of the building momentum away from the good guys ... Now, the hang up over the "torture bill" and just HOW the freak americans are excepting that this needs discussion is just so freakin unamerican ... But, it is keeping the idiot in the news EVERY gall darn day ...

Now, they can't keep this going for another 6 weeks ... People are going to get SICK to death of Bushco ... So, they will lose this little bump and the momentum will swing toward having to deal with Iraq again ...

I still think we have at least one more relative big, or big "event" of some kind ... What it is, and how it gets "spun" might be the determinant ...

[Supersedeas]

11. must be the Liberal Media

[progressoid]

12. Yeah, that was my initial thought as well.