TS: Ed Rollins Delivers "Buzz Kill" On Bush's Sagging Numbers

[stopbush]

The Today Show had Ed Rollins and Bob Shrum on this am. Katie Couric ran the segment. The
question was, "what does * need to do to reverse his sagging poll numbers?" Both pundits
offered their suggestions. Katie then asked, "can he do it," to which Ed Rollins blurted out, "No."

Katie's immediate response, "boy, what a buzz kill!"

Looks like Ed's response got Katie off her talking points.

[unblock]

1. second term presidents are pretty known quantities

there's not much shrub can do this late in the game to change peoples' impression.

[AzDar]

2. ..Saw it too. WHAT on earth are those in charge at CBS smoking?

She's laughable, and lately always lets her GOP bias show very clearly.

[sasquatch]

4. The same thing FOX is smoking

[sasquatch]

3. Why do they have that Dimestore whore doing nightly news?

I've seen fucking coma patients show better signs of intellect into current and past events than that dumbass.

[npincus]

5. "B*sh's numbers 10 points lower than Clinton's at height of Blow-gate"

well... not a quote exactly, but that fun fact was given on the Today segmnent as well.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. I don't think that's actually true.. I believe Clinton's low numbers were

before his whole presidency really got going, before the huge economic expansion started rolling. It was way early in his first term, and I don't think they were necessarily ever lower than this.

Even during the height of Monicagate I don't think his numbers were anywhere near that low, but if anyone can post a timeline showing otherwise, I'd like to see.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. I thought Clinton was in the low 70's during the impeachment.

Wouldn't that be considered the "height of blowgate/monicagate"?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. I believe that's right, but I don't know where you find the timeline. I'm

going to go look, and I'll post back here if I find it.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. Okay here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton#Public_approval

Public approval

While Clinton's job approval rating varied over the course of his first term, ranging from a low of 36 percent in 1993 to a high of 64 percent in 1993 and 1994 <28>, his job approval rating consistently ranged from the high 50s to the high 60s in his second term <29>, with a high of 73 percent approval in 1998 and 1999. <30> A CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll <31> conducted as he was leaving office, revealed deeply contradictory attitudes regarding Clinton. Although his approval rating at 68 percent was higher than that of any other departing president since polling began more than seven decades earlier, only 45 percent said they would miss him. While 55 percent thought he "would have something worthwhile to contribute and should remain active in public life", and 47 percent rated him as either outstanding or above average as a president, 68 percent thought he would be remembered for his "involvement in personal scandal" rather than his accomplishments as president, and 58 percent answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?" 47 percent of the respondents identified themselves as being Clinton supporters.

http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm

(the pollingreport.com numbers only go back to 97 or so)

http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/hsrun.exe/Roperweb/PresJob/PresJob.htx;start=HS_fullresults?pr=Clinton

Roper center link has the most comprehensive numbers, but the site is slow to load. What you'll see is that Clinton's LOW is in '93, WAY before Monicagate, and is about 36-37 percent, so certainly not "ten points lower".

During the whole second Clinton term, he consistently averaged over 55 percent approval and over 60 percent for much of that time.

So, if anyone on the Today show DID make a remark about Clinton being ten points behind shrub's current numbers at the height of Monicagate, they are COMPLETELY wrong on all points.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

25. Going to try to fix the link for Roper center poll compilation below:

Okay, for some reason I can't make it a functional link on DU, so go to the Wikipedia link below and click on the link for reference #28 there. The Roper center has the most comprehensive polling data from all the various big polls throughout the entire Clinton presidency, so it's worth looking at. For some reason the format of their search links doesn't "translate" on DU though.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton#_note-28

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

21. Read my post #18 with links below. If they actually said anything like

that, they were COMPLETELY wrong. Clinton's lowest numbers were in 93, LONG before Monica scandal, and they were NOT lower than shrub's current numbers. During Clinton's whole second term his approval averaged well over 50 percent, pretty much over 55 percent at all times and over 60 percent during much of that time.

[npincus]

23. hmmmm... misinformation on the Today Show?

You think it's possible? I believe Couric was the one who said it, in an off-hand manner. The poll she was referring to was not mentioned.

Some polls reliably favor one politcal persuasion over another- Rasmussen, for example, always had Chimp 5-10 points abouve the average of other national polls, though now he's at 39% with a strong disapproval in the mid-forties, which is more consistent with reality. Perhaps NBC was able to make their point with obscure numbers dug up who-knows-where.

Do not smite the messenger!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. The links have a comprehensive listing of the major polls of that

era. There is no poll where Clinton is lower than 36 percent. During "blowgate" he was consistently over 50 percent, and usually over 55 percent the whole time.

On edit: I added an extra post where you can link the slow-loading Roper center compilation of poll data, by going to wikipedia first then clicking a reference link. For some reason the format of the Roper center site doesn't seem to allow a functional direct link there because it puts a semicolon in the link.

[npincus]

27. thanks

[AX10]

6. Was Katie's head in Bush A**?

Most likely.

[kenny blankenship]

7. Golly gee! What an old stick-in-the-mud that man is. Not perky at all.

Not at all. Now let's find a way to turn that frown upside down!

[Arugula Latte]

8. Oh my GOD you guys -- Katie is SO Awesome!

She, like, TOTALLY reminds me of like a really cool Sorority Sister, you know?

[saltpoint]

9. Didn't see this interview, but it sounds like a rare moment of useful

info from Rollins. A 'No' to that question is useful because Ed's a bigtime GOP heavy-hitter.

The take-down here was also on Bush, whose presidency is heading down the drain.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. I think Rollins was Reagan's Carville.

[saltpoint]

22. An apt comparison. I've never questioned Carville's willingness to

speak up for himself. In fact, that's what he does best!

But Rollins always struck me as more furtive and less "public" in his devotion to GOP presidents and their initiatives.

Kinda nice to here him dispense with the hooey and just give a plain answer.

I appreciate all the info you've posted in this thread, MM, by the way. Thank you.

[DS1]

10. Her idea of a buzz is society's worst hangover

[rniel]

14. What a buzz kill dude

whoooa bush is totally awesome for sure. NOT

[KansDem]

16. Definition of "buzzkill"

Buzzkill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Buzzkill was a hidden camera reality show created in 1995 by three aspiring actors from the Chicago area for the MTV network. The show was essentially a series of elaborate pranks (backed, of course, by a major television network's budget) played not only on the layman but often on celebrities and major public figures. The show's most memorable moment was when one of the principal pranksters (Frank Hudetz) disguised himself as famous designer Isaac Mizrahi. The likeness was so uncanny that he fooled superstar Whitney Houston at an awards show; when Houston discovered the error, she felt made a fool of and vowed never to appear on MTV again. After 13 episodes the show was cancelled due to litigation concerns at MTV. Ironically, because of Buzzkill more outrageous reality shows were created at MTV including The Tom Green Show, Jackass, and Punk'd.

The show derived its name from the slang Buzzkill, meaning a sudden undesired event that causes one's "high" or "buzz" to become of a lesser experience or depleted. It is commonly used in association with marijuana. The term was first coined in minneapolis when two grass-head's roommate came home when they were playing darts in his room. They both said, "man why is he such a buzzkill?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzkill

So the heir to Murrow, Cronkite, and Rather uses hophead slang? That kinda-like, y'know, makes me wanna go, I mean, y'know, kinda-like, bum-high!

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. Yea, really.

I hate that kind of language.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. She'll do a fine job of representing CBS news in the tradition of Cronkite

:eyes:

[leftyladyfrommo]

20. I'm kind of sick about all of this. I have always watched CBS

and I just don't think I will anymore. I think I will go over to ABC.

[BlooInBloo]

26. The voice of intellect.... The new CBS news anchor...

"What a buzzkill!"

Sheesh. America sure is accepting of stupidity....

[gatorboy]

28. Where in The World is Matt Lauer?

Oh, yeah....

[chaumont58]

29. Jesus Christ, Bob Shrum? The guy is zero for his life, but still he....

gets national face time. Corporative TV loves to show loser Dems.