Damn those random people they ask! They are SO biased. They will never give Bush a chance. I mean geeeez. Guy just can't catch a break! I'll bet all of these competing corporate media companies meet together, share each other's strategy, and then talk bad about Bush all day in their fancy limousines and their fancy offices. Oh hey, there goes the oil business tycoon George H.W. Bush and the hospital tycoon Bill Frist. Now those are some good decent honest folk. Sure Dubya went to yale and grew up in a mansion and had a father that was an oil millionaire when he was a kid then a congressman when he was 20,then CIA director, then VP, then Prez, but this one time I saw a picture of him clearing brush! He's just like me! I clear brush!

Mark, if you didn't live in the parallel universe you seem to, you would understand that 71% is about right. Places I go (no, not S.F. or N.Y.) it's more like 91% so I'm assuming that's balanced out in other areas.

BTW: What will BFB be doing after 2008 (assuming Jeb isn't installed in some inconceivably audacious way)?

Reggie,

I don't know where you live, but out here in Las Vegas most people are all sorts of happy with life...if 71% really thought the nation were going to heck in a handbasket, then we couldn't get recruits for the military, couldn't sell a house, couldn't sell a car...we'd just be hunkering down and hoping the bad times would go away...but the military recruitment is find, houses are selling like hotcakes, new cars are everywhere and people are expansive and having a good time...the poll says everyone is gloomy; looking around shows me otherwise...what am I to believe? The poll, or my lying eyes?

At any rate, the proof will be in the pudding - if people are really as miserable as the Newsweek poll makes them out to be, then we GOPers will be buried in November...but if we hold or own or, as I expect, gain seats, then that will prove me correct, and Newsweek not worth the paper it is printed on.

As an aside: the Newsweek poll is traditionally the most unreliable poll out there. Always has been, as long as it has been around.

As for the future of B4B - we plan on taking over the world and forcing all Democrats to live in Utah...

Mark -

You are entering tinfoil hat territory here. The 29% polling numbers are not at all out of sync with numerous other polls.

By the way, the 29% approve, 71% disapprove numbers come from the NBC/Harris poll. The Newsweek poll actually shows Bush a bit higher, at 35%. CBS/NYT has him at 31%, AP-Ipsos at 33%, and even Fox pegged him at a paltry 33%: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192468,00.html

Now, the basic fact that more than 2/3rds of the American public disapproves of Bush does NOT necessarily translate into a democratic victory in November - I'll grant you that. But to flatly deny that Bush's approval among Americans is at a very low level - somewhere around 1/3 of the public - is to deny basic reality. You might as well get out there and deny global warming, evolution, and other basic tenets of science (oh, wait... bad examples!)

You do nothing for your credibility by pretending that all of these polling numbers - which all agree with one another - are wildly inaccurate. In fact, it kind of makes you seem like a fringe loony. Or still worse, it makes you seem like a cult follower who refuses to lose faith in the Dear Leader. This blind loyalty to Bush in the face of all factual evidence borders on religious faith - and that's a bit scary. Is this dwingling "movement" about conservative philosophy, or is it about a personality cult?

Mark

Stop with the kool-aid already.

From the Las Veges newspaper earlier this month!

"The inventory of homes for sale in Las Vegas reached an all-time high of 18,467 in April, a 29.3 percent increase from a year ago and nearly double the number from two years ago, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Thursday.

The median price of 2,230 single-family homes sold by Realtors in April was $310,000, down from $314,950 the previous month, but up 5.1 percent from the same month a year ago."

So I guess maybe all is really not going well and it is only your perception of what is doing well like so much else.

-Joe

Job approval doesn't equate to election landslides for the other side, although the same trend was noted in 1994. Or so I'm told; I wasn't paying much attention to politics back then.

I'm not too optimistic about November, but then again, I won't be leaving the country if my party loses. I'll just sit back and watch the fireworks of censure/impeachment. And tax increases. And cut-and run. I am only one man, mired in a blue state. Politics doesn't rule my life, and lately, politics have become a joke.

Having said all of that, allow me to concur with you, Mark. It seems there's a new poll, every other day. Let's just get that 1% poll out there, so we don't have to see any more...

He's the most unpopular president, ever!!!

That, and the:
Worst.
President.
Ever.

Aarontime:
"This blind loyalty to Bush in the face of all factual evidence borders on religious faith."

Bullshit detected. You claim factual evidence and you'll drone on and on about stuff that YOU BELIEVE and say that so and so SAID and so and so proved, yet in all, it's always an opinion.

To say the President's Poll numbers are low is an assertion based on a sample of people. First, that sample can never truly reflect the American people. 1007 people can never represent 300 million Americans. Second, I agree the poll numbers are low, however, If Mark or Matt or I decide to remain in that 35% you mention, then that's a choice based on the "facts" we choose to believe...

You will reply back saying our "facts" are delusional because they don't dovetail into your worldview and thus we're right back to where we began... you thinking Mark is crazy and he thinking you're certifiable as well.

If you can describe these "facts" you mention, then we can have a real discussion. Defintion of FACT... if everyone believes it, it is a FACT. For example, it was a FACT that the WORLD was flat until enough people believed it to be round.

So show me your facts that more than 80% of the people will believe in and we can start a real conversation.

He isn't very popular anywhere in the Wolrd, not just the USA. The man is a dangerous moron although its just a shame that America is waking up to how much of a moron he actually is too late.

Joe,

But we're also breaking records on the number of visitors here and the value of my home has gone up 10% since I purchased it in August...please don't try to sell me on a notion of bad times in Las Vegas: I live here, I know better.

Aaron,

And yet, they are, indeed, all wrong - its a herd-mentality MSM meme; and only in the fevered, kool-aid drinking mind of the left is Fox all that different from the rest of the MSM. Everyone is shooting to see how low they can get President Bush's approval number so they can have something to talk about.

Every one of these polls are overweighted for Democrats - some times quite heavily so. You can believe them all you like, but I do hope that you'll be here on election day so I can explain to you, in excruciating detail, just how your side lost the elction.

Unless, of course, you're just going to say that our victory in November was another example of Cheney/Haliburton skullduggery...

wawilliyo -

As I carefully listed above, ALL of the polls are zeroing in on approximately the same approval numbers for Bush. If it were just one or two polls that were very low, while the others were high, then I would be inclined to say that the low polls were outliers of little statistical value. But that is not the case. Again, ALL of the polls, including Fox News and the Wall Street Journal polls, all report more or less the same results on Bush.

But just as I thought, you hardcore Bush supporters will never believe any amount of polling data, or any other factual information... unless of course it supports your side! You all are very selective in your trust of polls - you had no trouble believing and trumpeting these very same polling organizations when they showed Bush's approval ratings approaching 90% in the weeks following 9/11. Now, all of a sudden, all the polls, which all get the same result for many weeks now, are just plain wrong. Something tells me you're losing the remnants of whatever tenuous grip on reality you ever had.

The president has my full confidence. The only poll that matters is election day. No poll has successfully predicted an election outcome. At least not in the last thirty years. Exit polls are the most unreliable. To take any poll and say, yep, that is how the election will go, is to admit to being an idiot. Go ahead. You were saying?

Teenage Liberal:
We could talk about a whole lot worse... how bout Buchanan who let the nation dissolve itself into CIVIL WAR.

Or how about Carter who presided over double digit inflation while "allowing theocratic loonies steal American citizens and hold them hostage while saying America was in a Malaise."

or how about a President who lacked respect for his job and went out and trotted his Cabinet before the world and made them lie and then he himself tried to circumvent justice by lying under oath and encouraging perjury?

Those are pretty shitty Presidents too.

I could name a whole hell of a lot more... How about the Presidents you couldn't even name!!! Do you know how many presidents we've even had?

Please dude... you may not like him, but you can't change the past.

If you're a teenager, I'm happy to know that for only 8 years of your life you've had a Democrat in office. Look at the history dude and you'll be scared to learn that Americans have, since the inception of the party, voted GOP way more than Democrat. And even the Democrats they've chosen have been more conservative than you probably like.

Another history lesson... Roosevelt believed in God and wrote a PRAYER for the nation... scary huh?

The poll breakdown can be seen here. 27% Republican, 36% Democrat, 32% Independent.

9% oversampled democrats once again and 32% Indep! Give me a break. A biased poll trying to make news rather then report it.

It's these kind of polls that have caused the left to become shocked and bitter when the elections dont go their way....they WANT to believe them sooooo much.

Pathetic bunch there.

Mark,

you need to face up to facts, every single poll taken in the last 2 months have had his popularity at 29%-26%

Even slanted Fox news took one figuring that they would get better numbers and ended up with 31%

CNN Poll, FOX Poll, Harris Poll, Gallop Poll. All within a 5 point margin of 29-35% and dropping 2-5% a month.

Another 3% drop and he will be at Nixon level , and the lowest of ANY president in American History.

Cheney at 12-16%, GOP Congress 18%-20%

GOP Congress approval is dropping about 5% a month too, last month they were at 25%. Come November, they are going to get flushed in the house and even Karl Rove is speculating a loss of up to 40 seats in the House. Democrats only need 15 to win back majority.

The Senate is a lot harder for them to lose, as only a third is up for election and the Democrats need much more to get the majority. Likely this may not happen, but its likely there will be a solid gain in the Senate.

The House is the priority, they control the purse strings and the spending and can cut spending to all of Bushs programs unless he plays ball and allows oversight to begin happening. Even more important is they will have investigative and subpeona powers and will finally be able to properly investigate 9/11, Katrina Response, Allegations of Torture, Rendition, NSA Spying and much, much more.

If the Democrats take the house, and they will barring some dirty fascist tricks from the whiote house to stop the election or keep voters from the polls, the Bush administration will be spending every moment of the term they have left doing damage control and avoiding impeachment/indictments. If proper investigations are done, indictments will be flowing like water in Washington for years.

Curt,

But we're a bunch of Bushite Kool Aid drinkers who don't understand!

Axis,

You wonderfully illustrate for all and sundry and hatred and unreality on the left...

It is clear that I struck a liberl/left nerve here - apparantly you have, like Axis, all talked yourself into an absolute assurance of victory and even the least dissent from that worldview enrages you...

We've got your number, boys and girls, and we're gonna whack you from pillar to post this Election Day.

Although I doubt that it would happen as soon as 2008, it is clear that unless some serious reforms are made soon, then this will become a very possible reality.

Many are realizing and many more are slow to realize that your republic is being replaced by a new century style fascist rule. Part of the reason for this is that the fascists are unlike those of old, such as Nazi Germany. Instead, you have an American Corporate Fascism where the biggest companies are richest people in the country are working very closely with the government to maintain control. Another reason is some people still hold to the belief that "Something like that could never happen in America"

1) In a true democracy, the people are the ones that hold the power and the government is afraid of the people and need to govern appropriately to avoid being booted out in the next election.

2) In a fascist regime, the people are afraid of the government that lies, manipulates and spies and controls the people slowly and gradually.

Its clear that this administration has no fear of the people at all and they have gotten much worse since the 2004 election. Currently they rule with absolute impunity, no accountability, knowing they have no one to be accountable so long as the congress continues to rubber stamp all that they do. Their only fear is that they will lose the house in November, which will likely cripple their agenda and could cause investigations into many of their highly questionable activities. Their fear is that congressional oversight that Americas founding fathers intended to be in place will return.

Now what’s wrong with that picture? After all, an administration that has no skeletons in the closet would have nothing to fear from oversight. The reason for fear is that there has been wrongdoing, and a lot of it. Likely a fair bit of criminal activity as well.

I am a Canadian, but am dual national with a close connection with the U.S., which has given me a perspective from both countries, which are dramatically different despite their close proximity.

I am in agreement with some of the comments here which describe the blue-red hate which is running rampant and getting stronger.

Part of the reason for this is that people are seeing the abuses and corruption in the current administration and the hardline red's like the owner of this blog will purposely ignore all of these and focus only on liberal hate.

People are seeing abuses that are running unchecked. Congress has a constitutional DUTY to provide oversight to the white house and the other agencies of government. This is to prevent abuse of power and corruption such as when Nixon abused his presidential powers to spy on Americans, in particular, political opponents and activist groups.

This oversight is NOT happening because it is stuck in a partisan rut. The old saying "Absolute power corrupts" is true and perfectly describes this situation.

People see that this is not happening and that their system of government is failing them, which is creating anger and hatred.

Both sides, blue and red are at fault here, however the red has a bigger burden because they hold the white house and both houses of congress. The Dem's have tried many times to get some oversight going, but it has been blocked every time by the Republicans.

You have an administration in power that openly condones, but does not publically admit to torture, rendition, signs statements on laws stating that it does not apply to the president, spies on its citizens and much more that has not been openly revealed yet.

Democrat voting people in the country see this happening and see the red's accepting it without problem and so they are left to conclude that this is the new "Republican ideals"

The truth is that the "Republican" that is currently in power holds very few of the ideals of the true Republican party. Bush and Cheny are "Neo-Conservatives" but are crowded under the Republican umbrella due to the flaws of the 2 party system and also partly because of the strength of the federal Republican party.

If the founders of the Republican party saw what they are doing and what they stand for, they would have tossed them out of the party and branded them for the fascists that they are. Neo-cons are not real "Republicans", but are instead Wolves in sheep’s clothing.

This is a big problem because traditional voters tend to stay either red or blue because thats they way they always have voted. So you have moderate or traditional Republicans, then you have the Corporatist Republicans that always favor the filthy rich and then you have the religious right neo-cons.

Moderate Republicans are also tired of this administration because it is clear to them that the neo-cons does not hold to their ideals. These people are concerned about what’s happening to them, their families, ensuring they have good jobs for decent pay and what’s happening in their towns and states. Most have little desire to attack and control the middle east like the neo-cons do.

As a result, you have a fractured Republican bas as well, so your problem is more complicated because if all should go to hell, you will see a lot of moderate republicans stepping across the lines to side the the Dem's because they see clearly that the neo-cons are a far bigger threat to national unity than the Dems could ever be.

Truthfully, the Neo-cons or religious right should be an entirely different party altogether.

The resolution to this problem is to slowly convert the 2 party system to a 3 or multi-party system. This is the only way to get rid of the wolves hiding in among the sheep. Toss them out and force them to start their own party.

If America wants fascist rule, in this case Corporate fascism, then the people should vote them in, not be tricked into it by fascists posing as Republicans.

Here in Canada and many other countries, we have a socialist government and a parliamentary system of government that has multiple parties and an election system that is mush harder to rig. No crooked voting machines either.

This has an advantage as you have a Liberal Party (formerly in power until early this year), a Conservative Party (Currently in power), you have a centralist party known as the NDP and then a fringe party that represents only French speaking Quebec voters.

This eliminates the possibility of a fringe group sneaking in under one of the parties umbrella as they would be promptly tossed out. This is common when members of the party are involved in corruption or hold radical ideals that don't reflect the rest of the party.

Clearly the American electoral college system is seriously flawed and needs reform or overhaul. It it commonly fails to represent the overall true will of the people, rather tends to come down to the will of one state, which is a serious problem when a close election can be stolen with as little as one crooked state. Crooked voting machines also add to the problem.

Once a president is sworn in, even if the election was rigged and even if it is found out after the executive is sworn in, its too late. This has happened before in American history in the 1800's and nearly lead to a second civil war.

A multi party system is the only real way to bring the country together, it will take a while to get it going, but it needs to get started ASAP.

Voters need real choices, having only left or right to choose from leads to frustration and people need to choose the lesser of 2 evils. This leads to a low turnout at the polls because people are disgusted that they have no choice that truly reflects their views. Instead they are forced to choose left or right and make concessions.

Soon enough bush will be within the margin of error, only then will he have exceeded Nero in dis-likeability. The Left is "pissed", so pissed that they are not only going to take the Republicabs out, they are going to take out most of the Democratic Party as well. Feingold and Dean are safe for now but, Dean seems to be going Right so he'd better be careful. Peace

What's even funiier is Kerry is even less popular than Bush. Kerry won didn't he, if you believed the polls he than did.

Around where I live, it's just the occasional nut case lefty that has a problem, the rest of the folks are pretty happy with the booming economy.

That poll number sounds like possibly good news for the Democrats, but...

The problem with asking someone if they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction is that it doesn't identify which is the wrong direction.

The person's answer does not indicate how many issues they were considering when they answered the question, and it does not reflect how strongly the person feels about those issues and the question.

One cannot assume that it means Republicans and Conservatives who feel the country is headed in the wrong direction have suddenly lost their minds and converted to Democrats and liberals and will vote accordingly.

If you take a poll of Ash and myself and ask if we believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, my guess is that your poll would reflect that 100% of the people believe America is headed in the wrong direction.

If we break that figure down, however, it would show that 50% of the country (Ash) believes the country is moving too far to the right (too conservative) and 50% of the country (me) believes the country is being shoved too far to the left (too liberal)!

My guess is that the continued drop in this poll number reflects many Conservatives and Republicans who believe the country is headed too far to the left and the figure continues to drop because Republicans are doing nothing about those issues.

The question then is how will this affect the Conservative and Republican votes?

AAR

I may be wrong, but I can't remember this many polls coming out on an almost weekly basis. I do not doubt the President's numbers are lower than he would want, but it reminds me of the polls about the economy. People keep saying they are personally doing well, but the economy is doing bad. The only explanation is that they are reading polls.

(Please delete the long post just above by me, it got put into the wrong topic for some reason.)

Mark,

No hatred, just facing up to reality that America is divided and its time for a change.

By your above comments, you either don't believe all the poll numbers and still cling to the belief that Bush is the greatest of all time, in which case I am not the one that is detacted from reality, you are...

or

You honestly believe that even with those poll numbers the GOP is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat and convince Americans at the last minute to vote for "2 more years of the same".

If the latter is true, then you have hopes, which is admirable, but they are in stark contrast with history that clearly shows that when a president is polling this low, his party pays for it during mid-terms

Just like in '94 when Democrat congress was messing up, they got flushed. This will happen again, although to a lesser degree because of the war.

I have no problems with dissenting views at all, but you have failed to come up with a foundation for your arguement that the GOP is going to "whack us post to pillar" Eveything from GOP record in the past few years to the White houses record to the poll numbers show the exact opposite to be true.

So what do you base your belief on Mark, other than naked hope? In a recent poll, even 40% of Republican voters said they would seriously consider voting Democratic for mid-terms because America is clearly on the wrong track.

It wasn't that long ago that people were scratching their heads in confusion about the polls and why they were so wrong on Election Day, 2004. Slate reported that in the national exit poll, Kerry was leading Bush 51-48%. Zogby was calling the election for Kerry: Kerry's 311 electoral votes to Bush's 213, with Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan all going blue.

And here we are, less than two years gone, without apparently having learned much. It should be clear by now that a 30% approval for Bush does not mean a 70% approval for his opponents. If a pollster were to call me today, their questions might produce results of my dissatisfaction with the President on some issues, but does not mean that I would change my vote for Bush in 2004 (or 2000).

I voted for Bush in 2004 because of his willingness to make tough decisions in the War on Terror, and his sound economic principles that have resulted in the recovery of the economy. If this were November 2, 2004, and I knew everything that had transpired to date, NSA and Plamegate included, I would still vote for President Bush. He is that much better than anyone the Democrats were willing to field short of Zell Miller, and the results of the 2004 Election show that Americans voted that way, despite the polls.

It is a real shame that the once-great Democrat Party has been reduced to poll-watchers and conspiracy-theorists, but there isn't much to be expected with leadership from the likes of Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid.

Mark, the only nerves you've struck here are the irrational ones rattling within your own noggins.

Look, polling data taken 6 months out can in no way predict the outcome of an election. No one can look at Bush's low numbers now and say that means the democrats are going to win in November - and no one I've read here is saying that.

However, historically, the major polling firms' results on election eve have closely matched the outcomes on election day. For instance, in 2000, the polls on election eve all more or less showed Gore hovering around 49% and Bush around 47% - which in fact was very close to the actual result on election day. In 2004, a sampling of the election eve polling showed Bush at around 50% and Kerry clocking in at 48-49% - and lo and behold, this too turned out to be pretty much the actual result. So I don't know where you assume that polling data is wildly inaccurate and grossly reflects bias towards democrats.

As far as the purported "over-sampling" of democrats.... uh, there are in fact more registered democrats in the country, and so they tend to show up slightly more in random samplings. Even so, the larger numbers of democrats in the country are not grossly "over-sampled". The Fox News poll, for example, which clocked Bush's approval at just 33%, sampled 36% Republicans, 20% Independents, 37% Democrats, and 6% "other" - hardly a strong bias.

Again, what is important is that the sample represent a random pattern over many different geographical areas, both urban and rural. Like I said, there are in fact more people nationwide registered as Democrats, so to say that all polls should consist precisely of 50% Republicans and 50% Democrats would be to not accurately reflect reality. In fact, Fox's sampling of 36-20-37 is a tiny bit distorted in favor of the Republicans.

Lets make it simple: lets say you have a room with 300 Democrats in it and 200 Republicans. And lets say you wanted to get an indication of what these 500 together as a whole think just in this room. So you ask 30 of them their opinion on Bush. If your "poll" included exactly 15 Republicans and 15 Democrats, it would not accurately reflect the opinion overall in the room, because it would not be a random sample of the people there. A truely random sampling of the people in room would never result in 15 Republicans and 15 Democrats - but rather a mix of something like 18 Democrats and 12 Republicans. Comprende?

Sigh....37% Democrats, 34% Republicans with a +/- 3%....as of last month.

Pretty much even just as the last election displayed (Republican 50.7%/Democrat 48.3%)

It's going to be quite funny when you guys dont get the house and in fact get only a few seats....gonna be like 2004 all over again with you guys pulling your hair out while screaming "what happened?" "The polls said we were gonna win!"

Followed with:

"It's a conspiracy!"

Same ole same ole

Axis,

1994 came out the way it did only in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Party in 1994 - the plain fact of the matter is that for a decade before 1994, the GOP scored even with or ahead of the Democrats in total popular votes for Congress...what happened in 1994 was the long-awaited re-alignment which started in the late 60's.

For the Democrats in 2006, they've got no issue to make people want to be FOR them - they've got to count on the near impossible: People being so anti-Bush that they will change their normal Congressional voting patterns in order to register an anti-Bush vote. It can happen - it is highly unlikely; and State by State polling indicates the GOP is in good shape...with the GOP poised to knock off incumbant Democratic governors in Michigan and Illinois, and take Democratic Senate seats in Maryland and Minnesota...and Blackwell looks to be the saviour for the Ohio GOP. Our only weak sister right now is Santorum, and some polling shows him rapidly closing the gap against Casey.

Time will tell...I'm either a fool whistling past the graveyard, or a pretty good analyst...2000, 2002 and 2004 showed me to be a pretty good one, we'll see if I can do four in a row.

I guess we libs should be forever grateful to Georgie----he's energized the Democratic base to come out and vote out Republicans this November. Out of corporate oligarchy and neoconservatism will spring neo-liberalism. GWB's goal was to spread democracy, now he will succeed in his own country! Couldn't do it without those 29% approval ratings!

Greg---- You must be kidding! Sound economic principles? Would those be the ones that have given us an unprecedented national debt, and enormous imbalance of trade? Or the ones that have given us increasing inequality, with a shrinking middle class, and tax cuts that benefit the top 1% of the population??
Every day we hear dire predictions systemic failures of the Social Security program and of Medicare. But Bush decided to enlarge the Medicare entitlement program by giving seniors a drug benefit.
Now we're stuck in a war that soon have cost more than Viet Nam, and for what?
Clinton left a huge surplus after the economic boom of the 90's. I am nostalgic for the 90's.

"If the Democrats take the house, and they will barring some dirty fascist tricks from the whiote house to stop the election or keep voters from the polls" Axis

Here it is folks...the conspiracy theory that is already being prepared when the defeatocrats fail to gain the House or Senate in the fall. It will be blamed on some dirty fascist trick from the whitehouse.

Must be that Rove has got the voter mind control machine in good working order. He is broadcasting those anti-Bush waves right now so that all the polls show Bush polling just above pond scum. Come October he'll reverse the polarity on the machine and Bush and Republican poll numbers will begin to rise, culminating in yet another GOP victory, to the eternal surprise and consternation of the defeatocrats who will undoubtedly cry foul.

Yes are correct, 30% polling numbers does not mean 70% for the other side

More often than not, it means that many Republicans won't be going to the polls rather than having to vote for the other side.

The results are usually the same.

I would rather have an unpopular President who leads by values and the commitment with a clear vision to keep this country safe than a popular President with no morals or values who only responds to the polls. Since 1980, we've had both types of leaders. One ended the Cold War, one has responded to the attack on this country and made the commitment that it wasn't going to happen as long as he was President and it hasn't. One waffled on terrorism and is probably the main reason we were attacked in the first place. I've always thought that Bill Clinton did an good job as President in claiming success for some of the policies that the Republic Congress made him eat. That's the nature of politics in this country. His lack of forceful response, however, to the initial attack on the WTC, the Kobar Towers, the embassy bombings in Africa, the USS Cole incident and the cut and run from Somalia when the going got tough left this country vulnerable to the terrorist attacks we saw on 9/11.

Yes, the MSM tells us we are fighting an unpopular war against terrorism and for democracy in Iraq, but I can't for the life of me understand why all you seemly intelligent people can't connect the dots that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein would not have become more involved than he already was. My God, did he have to use chemical weapons in Israel, Europe or this country to get that point across. He GASSED his neighbors and, more importantly, his own people. President Clinton, candidate Kerry, the UN, The EEC and every intelligence service in both the free and communist world knew that he had WMD. He was a cancer that had to be eliminated.

You may argue that we're creating more terrorists by our actions in Iraq, but I beg to differ. Under previous administrations, we've done everything we can to assist the freedoms of Muslims throughout the region. We supported bin Laden fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, the end to ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia, the removal of the Iraqis from Kuwait and STILL we were attacked by radical terrorists. The only difference is now, we've fighting back and made it known that we're not going to allow it to happen again. If that makes our President unpopular, so be it.

Mark!

You live in Vegas, dude. VEGAS!!!!! I've been there...flashing lights, prostitution, casinos raking in millions of dollars of tourism money per day. Vegas!!! You know what I heard about Vegas...what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Get out and experience the rest of the country. Get a job in the manufacturing sector. Try anyway.

As for your poll numbers, you act like it's a big Newsweek conspiracy. Check out Polling Report

Newsweek - 35%
CBS - 31
CNN - 34
USA Today/Gallup - 31
Fox - 38
AP/Ipsos - 33
CBS - 33
Cook - 36
NBC/WSJ - 36
Pew - 35

But then I'm sure you're convinced they are all polling the exact same people. Face it, Americans are sick of him. Even Fox who is certainly hitting the conservative demographic can only muster up 38%. It will be a sad, sad election day in Blogs4Bush.

Captain,

Well, then please be here for it...we were getting all sorts of cocky predictions from Democrats in 2004, and none of them had the guts to show themselves around here on election day...

Its not a conspiracy - its just MSM; just the normal run of biased incompetance. Polls of 1,007 adults (which usually understates GOP strength by 7-10 percentage point even when its a well done poll), all heavily overweighted with Democratic respondents....you just keep believing those polls.

Gee, the median price of a home in LV went down a whole $4k from one month to the next. You conclude that home sales are poor. Are you serious? One month does not make a trend. Home sales continue to be robust - it will be the third best sales market ever after the best ever sales in 2005 and the second best sales in 2004, and oh by the way any year ever under Clintune.

Fox has Bush up to 38% in its last poll, not 33%.

Don't put any weight in polling of adults. The AP poll oversampled Demorats by 10 points, and independents by 6%. There are cheap polls to conduct, meaning they cost the media next to nohting to do, considering the fact that most of the MSM are losing money.

Having a teenager say someone is the worst president ever.

priceless

Mark,

There is a ton of unhappy voters here in Ohio ( I am one of them ) over the amnesty issue. It WILL effect the Ohio elections for Blackwell and maybe even DeWine. I just came back from visiting my Mom for Mother's day, there was 24 of us there, yeah it was crowded. These are all voters from Butler country, Ohio (this is the one county that helped Bush get re-elected in 2004 ( Bush by 66% 109,872 to 56,243 ) and I can tell you that quite a few family members would all pretty much sit home, if the 2004 election was held today.

GOP is in trouble with Middle America, and President Bush and Senator Frist had sure as hell better see that, before November rolls around.

Paul
B4B

Kerry and Gore ranked even lower than Bush....the hits keep coming from the left don't they.

Please, please, please nominate Hillary as that will get the Conservative base so fired up it will make their heads spin.

Paul,

I think they do, and the plans to rally the base are already advanced...though most of what will happen on that score won't start to happen until late summer.

Be that as it may, I can't see my fellow conservatives in Ohio abandoning someone as great as Blackwell just because they are mad about the immigration issue...

Be that as it may, I can't see my fellow conservatives in Ohio abandoning someone as great as Blackwell just because they are mad about the immigration issue...

Mark, if the GOP leadership thinks as you do, and ignores middle America's anger, then Blackwell will lose. I hope not, I was endorsing Blackwell here on B4B about a year ago.

Mark, I am telling you that the folks here are totally upset. I do not have the words that can express the voter anger. I have sent the Blackwell campaign folks a lot of links, You can bet your bottom dollar that they are fully aware of the voters mood, and it ain't pretty

the Conservative base so fired up it will make their heads spin....

Nice image warrior. Tom Delay with his head spinning, ala The Exorcist. Vomiting green cigar ashes. Cool.

Zeke Eigeldinger,

What values and commitment are you exactly talking about? Bush says one thing, and does another.

Says we are addicted to foreign oil, then passes a bill that penalizes people that buy hybrid cars, then ensures the big oil companies get their tax breaks while that make more profit that any other company in World history. Hes done nothing to solve the energy crisis, other than to ensure that his supports rake in as much as they can while hes in power.

Says he supports democracy, then critizes palestine for democratically electing a leader that he does not like and no longer likes the PM of Iraq because of his criticism of the war. Also wants to drop bombs on Iran and forcefully remove their democratically elected president.

Says he supports freedom, then take sweeping steps to curtail freedoms in America and spies on you to boot.

As for the comments about Clinton and the first WTC attack, I seem to recall him catching those bastards pronto and they are rotting in prison as we speak. Same for oklahoma bombing.

Can't say the same for Bush looking for Osama, says he can run, but can't hide and we'll get you, then gives up 6 months later. Wheres that commitment you speak of?

------------

“So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him” … “And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run.”

— George W.Bush, responding to a reporter who asked why the President rarely spoke or mentioned Osama Bin Laden, in a press conference March 13, 2002, only 6 months after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

-----------------------

"Because he's hiding."

— George W. Bush, responding to a reporter who asked why Osama bin Laden had not been caught, aboard Air Force One, Jan. 14, 2005
"The goal has never been to get bin Laden"

-----------------------

— General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on 6 April 2002.

-----------------------

Mark Noonan,

Just wanted to say you're a rockstar my friend! keep up the good work :) I always enjoy reading your posts.

Paul,

Oh, to be sure the GOP can't just sit around and expect to win - the election has to be WON...but I think we're going to do it, and do it pretty well. The upcoming speech by President Bush on border security will likely be the opening salvo on getting the base back on board for November.

Because he's hiding."

GEEZ, of course he is hiding, otherwise he would be caught and executed. That is the lamest excuse not to like Bush

The lamest! You know it, I know it and certainly 99.9 % of thinking American's know it. I have reasons to dislike what Bush is currently doing, but not capturing OBL aint one of them. If that is going to be the Liberals battle cry ( again) this November, then bring it on. You will lose

Again!

The upcoming speech by President Bush on border security will likely be the opening salvo on getting the base back on board for November.

For the GOP and country, that would be a good thing to do, sooner the better.

Wow.
This post by Mark, and his comments as well, really remove any doubt, don't they?

This is a level of lunatic denial that is staggering. I am sure even the majority of somewhat sane Republicans must be somewhat embarrassed. Well, what do you expect - blogs for bush - rather obivous a craven cult mentality at work.

And oh Mark - the proof is not in the pudding. The proof OF the pudding is in the eating.

Shakespeare y'know - really no excuse for a conservative....

paul, you seem to have focused on the "because he's hiding" quote, while conveniently ignoring the other 2, more important ones, you know the hard to swallow ones that show clearly that Bush gave up on finding the 9/11 mastermind after only 6 months of looking.

With steely resolve like that, is it any wonder why terrorists may consider attacking, knowing that after, all they need to do is hide out in a cave for 6 months and let the U.S. give up on looking for them.

If thats a leader that's TOUGH on terror, then you have a serious problem.

----------------------

“So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him” … “And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run.”

— George W.Bush, responding to a reporter who asked why the President rarely spoke or mentioned Osama Bin Laden, in a press conference March 13, 2002, only 6 months after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

----------------

"The goal has never been to get bin Laden"

— General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on 6 April 2002.

-------------------

Doing the right thing is not always popular. History will be kind to George.

"What I figure we GOPers should do is pay for a poll which will show President Bush with only 1% support, with 99.6% hoping for a Democratic win in November"

save your money and wait 12 more months. You might get it for free!

"If thats a leader that's TOUGH on terror, then you have a serious problem."

Yep. Was a problem in 2002, 2004
you must be right. My bad.

Mark,
I don't follow Illinois politics, but I know quite a bit about Michigan politics -- and I think that your glee over the possibility of "knocking off" Governor Granholm is premature -- at best.

Everyone is well aware of the Republican candidate's deep pockets -- he's been buying air time since he decided to run. Granholm has yet to air a commercial. I don't know which polls you are watching (I thought they were all flawed), but in the case of the GOP gubernatorial candidate -- too much name recognition is not a good thing. Dick DeVos has some very serious problems to overcome -- most of his own making, but also some caused by his widely unpopular (even among Republicans) wife. I would expect that you will see that played out over the summer when the campaign heats up.
Granholm has problems with her popularity too -- but her numbers improve when you mention Dick or Betsy DeVos.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

I don't agree. A recent survey of Democrats and Republicans asked how history will remember him and over 70% responded that he will be remembers as a below average president.

While that is much kinder than I would describe him, its not exactly something to be proud of.

Quote by John,

"Doing the right thing is not always popular. History will be kind to George."

Folks who feel that, "history will be kind to George" must be planning on writing it themselves. I can't even imagine an objective historian, and I do know some, that could (in good conscience) look at the Bush administration as anything but a disaster for this country and the world in general.

"He's the most unpopular president ever"

NO,NO,NO, He's Not. Now leave him alone!!!

He's the most god fearing man that's ever set foot in the white house,which is a pretty big accomplishment, considering the other eight years american's went through!!!!!!