"This is the spring of Bush's discontent."

"Matthew Cooper writes for Time.com: "This is the spring of Bush's discontent. Inside the White House, there's a recognition that this is a difficult period for the president -- not 9/11 difficult, not blowing-the-first-presidential-debate difficult, but frustrating nonetheless. He must sell a Social Security package that seems to be losing ground with the public and Congress. His 60-day tour to sell the plan seems to have only diminished support for the proposal. Overall, the president's approval rating has been softening, hovering below the 50% mark in a number of public and private polls.

"And it's more than Social Security that's diminishing those numbers. There's the economy, which has shown signs of weakness -- market jitters, alarming trade deficits and high oil prices. With the Iraq issue settling into an uncomfortable background of casualties-and-baby-steps-toward-democracy, there's no galvanizing terror issue to give Bush his usual lift in the polls.

"This isn't likely to change anytime soon."
William Douglas, James Kuhnhenn and Steven Thomma write for Knight Ridder Newspapers: "Bush's bold agenda is bogged down by public skepticism about some of his proposals, growing resistance from Democrats, dissension within his party's ranks, and what some analysts consider second-term hubris.

"With gas prices near record highs and stock markets jittery, Bush's drive for privatized Social Security accounts has been met by deep public skepticism. His judicial nominees are stalled, his choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is stuck in committee, and his job-approval rating recently dropped to 45 percent, the lowest of his presidency and well below that of other recent second-term presidents.

"Recent surveys have found a disconnect between most Americans' mainly economic priorities and the White House's and the Republican Congress' preoccupation with issues including Terri Schiavo and plans to kill the filibuster."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

:nopity: :cry: :nopity: :cry: :nopity: :cry:


:evilgrin:

for the blivet, as there's just about no one more deserving!:woohoo:

I would say that he better get used to discontent. If those numbers continue to fall, and I think that they will, although I cannot imagine that they will at their present break-neck speed, he's gonna be in for a world of hurt.

On edit: Check out the story about the fall in contributions to DeLay Industries. Goddamn. There is another very interesting data point.

I must have missed the part where he died in the Two Towers. All I remember is his selling photo ops and taking full political advantage of the fear and hope of Americans.

Next we'll hear how difficult the Iraq war is for our Fortunate Son.

Nothing, and especially not 9-11, has ever been difficult for the chimp. He is truly the bubble boy.

May the disconnect with the American public be permanent:applause: and cause history to be written about the squandering of all the republican opportunity before the first 100 days of the second term.

May the American people recover fully and vote Democratic!