Because, you know, everything is going so well in Iraq. Why, I hear they’re building new schools there and everything. And there were jobs created. And the housing market is just humming along. And the economy is purring like a well-oiled machine. Everything’s coming up roses for the average American. That’s why we love our president and our government soooo much!
Rising gas prices and ongoing bloodshed in Iraq continue to take their toll on President Bush, whose standing with the public has sunk to an all-time low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey found Bush’s job approval rating at 45 percent, down seven points since January and the lowest ever recorded for the president in Post-ABC surveys. Fifty-three percent disapproved of the job Bush is doing.
53%? Gosh, in Republican math, I do believe we have ourselves a mandate!
What may have pushed Bush’s overall ratings down in the latest poll is pervasive dissatisfaction over soaring gasoline prices. Two-thirds of those surveyed said gas prices are causing financial hardship to them or their families. Gas prices stand to go even higher after Hurricane Katrina’s rampage through the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
More ominously for the president, six in 10 Americans said there are steps the administration could take to reduce gas prices. Slightly more than a third say the recent run-up has been due to factors beyond the administration’s control.
Don’t worry, folks, those gas prices will go down. Probably sometime before November 7th, 2006.
“I supported him last year,” said Gina Coleman, 29, a homemaker living in Camden County, N.J. “I wouldn’t vote for him again. It’s gas prices, the war — just the way he has been handling things. The rise in gas is something that has been happening for a long time, and the prices are getting worse. This makes me feel more negative about him, definitely.”
Hey, welcome aboard the clue train, Gina! Thanks a lot for voting this idiot son of a Bush in again. I hate to say we told you so, but… well, enjoy those gas prices, Ms. Coleman.
Dissatisfaction is not limited to the president. Fewer than four in 10 Americans — 37 percent — approve of the way the Republican-controlled Congress is doing its job, the lowest rating for lawmakers in nearly eight years.
How can that be? Don’t they get any credit for rushing to the defense of Terri Schiavo? Oh, check that, maybe they are getting credit for that.
The survey also provided bad news for Democratic leaders, who are judged as offering Bush only tepid opposition. Slightly more than half of those surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with congressional Democrats for not opposing Bush more aggressively.
Self-identified Democrats were particularly impatient. More than three in four said congressional Democrats have not gone far enough to oppose Bush on Iraq or on administration policies in general.
There’s a lesson in there for you, Howard Dean, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and the rest, and it’s one you should have learned from the Republicans in the last few elections: support your base. right now, most of us see you in that “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything” category.
Slightly more than four in 10 — 42 percent — approved of the job Bush is doing in Iraq; 57 percent disapproved, unchanged in recent months. Slightly more than half — 53 percent — said the war was not worth it, while 46 percent said it was, identical to the results of a Post-ABC poll two months ago. By a 51 percent to 38 percent ratio, the public said the United States is winning the war, despite mounting casualties and insurgent attacks.
A majority (54 percent) continued to say the United States should keep military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there; 44 percent said U.S. forces should be withdrawn. Six in 10 opposed announcing a timetable for withdrawal. Only about one in eight — 13 percent — said U.S. forces should be withdrawn immediately.
Hmm. So 57% think Bush is running the war badly, 53% say it wasn’t worth it, and 51% say we’re winning. Winning what, I wonder? How many of those answers are attributable to the notion that nobody wants to claim they’re on the losing side?
But now that we’re there, 54% say stay there until we calm it down, even though it is our very presence that makes things chaotic. 60% say don’t announce a timetable, because they’ve bought into Bush’s lie that if we say when we’re going to leave, the terr’ists will just wait it out, as opposed to now when they’ll just eventually give up if they kill enough of us. And only 13% don’t buy Colin Powell’s Pottery Barn rule.
As for Cindy Sheehan?
Sheehan met last year with Bush at an event for military families and has been seeking another meeting with him. Slightly more than half of the country — 52 percent — said Bush should meet her again; 46 percent said he should not. Fifty-three percent supported what she is doing and 42 percent opposed.
The poll found that Sheehan’s activities may have helped increase support for the war among Bush supporters. Although eight in 10 Americans said Sheehan’s protests have not changed their attitudes toward the war, one in 10 said she has made them more likely to support the conflict — the same proportion that said she has made them less likely to support the war.
Good. That’s called galvanizing the elctorate. Force everyone to come down on the pro-war or anti-war side. No more wishy-washy sentiments. You’re either with us, or against us.
