NICE NEWS TO SLEEP ON

President Bush’s popularity ratings — once among the highest of any president in the past 60 years — are eroding across the board, according to a new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. Bush is losing ground in several key areas, including foreign policy, the economy and his handling of the war on terrorism. And as the escalation of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf continues, the poll finds a growing number of Americans oppose military action to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power.

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The data indicate that Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with important aspects of Bush’s performance in the Oval Office. The president’s overall approval rating slipped to 54 percent, down from December’s 62 percent and a dramatic decline from his January 2002 rating of 82 percent — the highest approval rating of any U.S. president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose approval rating reached 84 percent after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

(...)

On the economy: 44 percent backed the president’s economic approach. That is a major drop since June, when 57 percent gave the president high marks, and an even steeper drop from an approval rating of 63 percent in January 2002.

On foreign policy, 51 percent supported Bush’s performance, a decline from December’s rating of 57 percent and a significant drop from an approval rating of 81 percent a year ago. (full story)

So in the space of a week, we get three different major polling organizations showing Bush to be in the low-mid 50's.

But I'm sure Bush took those previously high numbers and used them to garner goodwill around the world, steering our nation away from the shame of arrogance and warlike posturing, right? Right? Well, at least he used that national unity to spur on an effort to rid our nation of its addiction to foreign oil and seek out renewable energy sources. Wait. Fuck, that didn't happen either. Well, did he and Rove at least take some time to jerk off to those high ratings after 9/11? Even just that?

The big number is that 51% on foreign policy. It was the public's opinion of Bush on foreign policy -- the "war on terrah" -- that kept his JAR sky-high all that time. Now he is throwing tantrums about Iraq, going all the hell over the place on North Korea, pissing off pretty much all of Europe (except for Poodle Blair of course, though even he is beginning to ask some questions), and much more. But hey, at least he has his broad, strong economic and domestic policy vision to fall back on. Right? Oh, fuck again.

But at least they got that Confederacy wreath thing sorted out. Doesn't change anything. Whether or not people in the GOP are truly racist, the fact is they are the party of pandering and/or appealing to the interests of racists.

Anyway, see you at the Kerry-or-Edwards-or-Dean inaguration!