New poll shows Bush slipping in South

[cal04]

Conservative columnist blames handling of Iraq PR
Republicans are losing ground in Georgia and Florida over Bush's handling of the Iraq war according to a new poll previewed by a conservative columnist, RAW STORY has found. The poll, which surveyed 4,000 in Southern states, finds that Bush has higher disapproval ratings than approval ratings. Bush won both states in 2004.

Excerpts from the column by Matt Towery, a onetime staffer of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich:

The final, comprehensive results of the poll weren't yet complete when this column was filed. Over 4,000 interviews have been conducted, however -- enough to render persuasively alarming news for the GOP. For example, in the populous states of Florida and Georgia, more respondents want the Democrats to control Congress next year than they do the Republicans. President George W. Bush won both states in 2004, and yet he now has higher disapproval ratings than approval ratings. In Georgia, his disapproval rate approaches 50 percent. In Florida, it's 55 percent.

It gets worse for Republicans. Initial polling results seem to show that the disapproval of Washington Republicans is starting to translate into possible votes against GOP candidates this fall in statewide races back home. Most of these are races in which Republicans would expect to hold obvious upper hands.

Towery blames Iraq:
The deceptively simple truth about all of this is that while most Americans aren't wild about the Iraq venture, it's not something that dominates their lives and thoughts. More accurately, it wouldn't cause them dark dreams if the president would stop picking at this geopolitical scab on his face before it becomes a gaping wound.
....
The press is scoring at will, to quote the sports phrase. To cite another one, George W. Bush is getting an assist on each of their goals. Every day, with each new speech or press conference on Iraq, he voluntarily digs himself deeper and deeper into a hole. The media simply reports on his descent. Soon he may dig himself through to the other side of the globe and pull his party mates in Congress through with him.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/New_poll_shows_Bush_slipping_in_0323.html
READ THE FULL COLUMN
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/matttowery/2006/03/23/190917.html

[Erika]

1. Even conservative Southerners are waking up

W is incompetent. It's not just a claim, it's a fact.

[aquart]

2. Or maybe they're just worried about the weather.

Who would you want to have in charge for the next hurricane season?

[Swamp Rat]

4. Yep, we sure DO!

:scared:

I know crusty ole right wingers who HATE Bush now. I cannot print what they say...

Put it this way: their hatred of Bush rivals my own! :wow:

[MadMaddie]

3. I think Katrina had a lot do with the falling poll numbers....

[Old and In the Way]

5. Kind of interesting....

I admit I've been scanning Redstate.org looking to see how the Domenech story is being covered. Pretty much as expected, not very.

Anyway, on the frontpage, their leade article is "The Graying of the Movement: Time for RedState's Rise." Here's a quote- "To be sure, the right has won on the ideas. We do not just think we are right -- we are in fact right. But it does not matter if we cannot reach young conservatives." Won on ideas? Hardly. It's been one disaster after another for the "ideas" Party. That's all they have to show for 5 years of total government control...ideas. And 4 Trillion added to the deficit, an ecoomy that is pretty shaky unless you are in the top 5% income bracket, a Trillion dollar mess in Iraq, the incompetence of New Orleans - before and after, systematic corruption of Republicans in DC, no oversight, and a growing theocratic movement that threatens 200 years of constitutional seperation of Church and State. Take away Republican owned voting machines, the forced marriage of political necessity to evangelicals, and the compliant corporate media cover-up of Republican mismangement/corruption....and what ideas have they won with? They wonder why young folks aren't signing up for their conservative ideas? Maybe because they are smart enough to know a train wreck when they see one.

But, if RedState is the 'gold standard' for reflective thinking on conservative politics (as opposed to, say FreeRepublic), these 'conservatives' are navel gazing on the Titanic. They spend way too much time demonizing labels (liberals = bad;conservative = good)...and not nearly enough time making honest assessments of what their Party/Syndicate leadership has wrought on this country. They are making themselves irrelevant.

So while these polls show that the erosion of Republican support continues, the internet braintrust wonder who'll carry the banner for the next generation. Hmmmm, maybe Ben Domenech can give them some answers.

[Jade Fox]

6. Won on ideas? Don't make me laugh.....

Conservatives don't have ideas, as a rule. If you scratch one of their better "ideas", you will find a liberal notion lurking beneath. Their many crackpot fantasies are mostly their own.

[Old and In the Way]

7. The only "ideas" they have are ideas.

Certainly nothing that they can point to that says "see we did something conservative that benefits everyone". Sure, they can point to things that they've done that have enriched themselves or their corporate underwriters, but I cannot think of a single program, in 12 years, that they can point to and say "this made things better for everyone".

On this thread that I mentioned above, as soon as anyone starts to stray from the official party line (as defined by a few Keepers of the Dogma)...you are a troll. Kind of hard to do outreach when your natural inclination is to hate anyone who doesn't think like you. They'll countenance no questioning of the historical record that exposes the contradictions of their positions. Party purity and orthodoxy must be maintained and there-in lies the seeds for their own political self-destruction.