So much for the post-SOTU bounce
By Steve Benen Thursday Feb 07, 2008 8:15amHistorically, presidents get a little boost in the polls after a State of the Union address. It makes some sense -- the nation gets to hear a president's pitch, while seeing him get rounds of applause.
Bush, however, manages to see his popularity drop after his SOTU.
It's almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans....
Bush's acceptance by his own party is at bottom in the AP-Ipsos poll. Just 61 percent of Republicans gave Bush positive reviews; his previous low was 65 percent last month. Only 28 percent of them expressed strong approval.
About one in 10 Democrats and three in 10 independents gave Bush positive marks.
A couple of weeks ago, White House officials were "predicting a remarkable poll shift to about 45 percent favorable by the time he leaves office next year."
They're off to a bad start.
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He'll be rounding that out with another of his "heck of a job" tours of the recent disaster area in TN and other unfortunate southern states. Just what victims of a natural disaster need. An idiot on a photo op and his entourage causing more trouble than they've already got and leaving in his wake a whole lotta nothing.
"About one in 10 Democrats ...gave Bush positive marks."
They must have asked Joe Lieberman.
Time to wake up, their new reality has nothing to do with the reality most of us live in. Never has never will.
tjb @ 3:
So true. Every one of the congressonal and senate Republicans still votes in lockstep with Bush. They are the party of Bush. Remember that in November when you vote.
"the nation gets to hear a president’s pitch, while seeing him get rounds of applause."
And that alone should make them like him better?
How very sad.
I would say Americans are sick and tired of both Bush and CONgress.
You just don't get it. They don't care about approval ratings. They want a SHATTERED UNION!
It's great for business: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/12/01/83...
I don't know anyone who can actually sit and watch shrub speak.No One.
The spin cycle has already begun.
Bush and Mc Cain will continue to scare the masses with the "terrorists are coming to cut your heads of!!!!" strategy. McCain, Bush, Romney, Cheney are all using that rhetoric at CPAC. This AM on Morning Joe, Shuster asked Joe on the phone from FL if Romney went ove the top with the anti-Dem rhetoric at CPAC and tried to make the argument that we left the right war for the wrong war in Iraq. Joe went ballistic and he told David Shuster to shut up because it was his show and he wanted to talk. Mika groveled, Shuster fumed, and Pat Buchanan bloviated on whenever Joe wasn't talking. The gist from Joe and Pat, the Republicans will win again because they will scare the public again as they did in 2002 and 2004. Do these numbers tell us otherwise?
This morning when bush was speaking to that large group of conservatives, he said that Cheney was the best vice president ever. I'm not kidding. He said it and the crowd cheered like they had just been given a new Hummer or some other kind of hummer.
I'll be very happy if and when he leaves office, but I don't think you would call that approval.
I'd be surprised if the numbers he is getting aren't already bumped in his favor. I find it difficult to believe there are that many people still fooled by the idiot. I suppose there are those who are willing to call a turd a diamond because they believe the propaganda. That hating shrub is just giving osama what he wants SNARK! But other than that who the hell likes the worthless scumdrop other than his war profiteering cronies?
You would have to have a negative IQ to consider him anything but a horrible mistake and something we'll all be better off without.
pissed off patricia @ 10:
Thanks P.O.P..
I saw that this mornin when I woke up.........I wasn't sure if I was having a bad dream.......ughhh....what a horrible way to start a day.
pissed off patricia @ 10:
The 30% was in that room yesterday.
More like a SNOTU.
Never underestimate the power of a good wiretap. I'm guessing Cheney has more dirt on these idiots than Brittany has DUIs.
Proud American Libera @ 4:
We don't need to be reminded, but you might post this at Little Green Snot Balls.
What's with all my mucous references today?
Internetjunkie @ 16:
Actually Britanny has a lot of IUD's, she just can't spell it.
I hope no one has forgotten that Shrub and Co. couldn't care less about all this. After all, America was witless enough to vote for the little cretin not once but twice! Too little too late. He doesn't care what any poll on the planet has to say about him. He's won and he's laughing all the way to the bank along with a get-out-of-jail-free card. THAT is a hardcore fact!
Yeah...Cheney best neocon fascist,corrupt,no bid contract givin,industrial strength shreddin,two faced,double talkin,back stabbin ,Republican VP in history.
I rather expect that the President's approval ratings will be much higher one year from today. After all, we'll have a different president. Bush's ratings will slide into negative numbers.
If I were elected president, my first act would be to have Big W, Cheney, and the rest of the war criminals "extraordinarily rendered" to The Hague to be tried for war crimes. Unfortunately, while Republicans would do it in to an equally lawless Democrat in a minute, Democrats will want to be conciliatory to a bunch of thugs who interpret forgiveness as weakness.
I'm not sure he could pull a 45% approval rating even if they engineered a false-flag event to whip up some patriotic fervor.
Bush's legacy will be the same as every other endeavor - three failed businesses (the last, Harken Energy, with likely but unproven insider trading) and mismanagement of a Major League baseball team.
And if you look at America as a business, we've doubled our debt (Iraq), lost assets from neglect and mismanagement (Katrina), and gutted our work force (3,950+ casualties). Yup, he's running it just like a business ... and he's gonna skip out the door and laugh, leaving us to hold the bag.
Thanks, Harry & Nancy. Eight years of mismanagement is so much better than five-and-a-half.
MargeAggedon @ 12:
On Valentine's Day, won't you give someone special a gift they'll treasure?
Remember, a "diamond" is forever ...
Shadowgm @ 22:
I've been thinking the same thing for the last few days now..
We're due for a terrrrrrrist alert......but I expect it closer to the general election.......boo
It’s almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore
IMPEACH & CONVICT! there is nothing left to discuss.
Can bush issue a pardon for himself and his gang before he leaves office? You know, in case someone actually tries to prosecute them in the future.
You want to find that 30% who still approve of him, listen to Washington Journal on C-span in the mornings. There are some total idiots out there in phone-in-land. One guy this morning was saying it didn't matter what the dems said they would do about insurance and such, because if they get into office we will be to busy dodging terrorist bullets, shells and bombs to care about anything else.
This is truly a dark period for the United States.
Most Americans have no personal attachment to their government unless you are that 1% that have personal contact with your lobbyist.
The Mom & Pop Chamber of Commerce has been replaced by the Corporate Chamber of Commerce.
A majority in the SCOTUS believe that personal rights are trumped by corporate rights.
A President who believes that the 1% will share their wealth out of the goodness of their heart,(see trickle down economics)(see compassionate conservatism)???
C'mon you 30%ers, Why can't you see through the thin veil protecting this B.S.? If you are not making more than $150,000 you are being left behind and you should know that the largest tax break in history went to the .6% who make more than $500.000, and you are paying almost twice a percentage of your earnings that that .6% make.
Wake up Repug supporters, you are being played for a fool.
mudshark @ 24:
Whenever Bush and Cheney leave DC at the same time is the time to worry about that suitcase hidden in Cheneys safe!!
I expect we'll see a video from Osama sometime in the early fall saying that he looks forward to working with the democrats when they win the presidency. That will make all the crazies even crazier. He seems to always say the right thing to work for the republicans.
Also, it would not surprise me to hear that Osama has been captured, killed, or blown to smithereens.
OOPS! Next to last line should read.................twice a percentage of your earnings than the .6% PAY.
I'm not concerned about before the election,But I wonder about after it.No ,I'm not trying to fear monger.
When Clinton took office,the WTC was hit.
When boosh stole the office,the WTC was hit.
Both times shortly after the election.
I dunno...........maybe it's just me.
A couple of weeks ago, White House officials were “predicting a remarkable poll shift to about 45 percent favorable by the time he leaves office next year.”
I think they're right. Leaving office will be the most popular thing he's ever done.
Another lost opportunity
This would have been the perfect year to at least scale back the Nuremberg Rally excesses with which we stage the SOTU address, if not end the practice altogether and simply not make the venue of Congress (and all those Congresscritters as extras) available to the president for his propaganda fest. Washington and Lincoln were content to mail their SOTU messages to Congress, so it's not as if withdrawing the free media opportunity would have been real-world unfair or demeaning to the just pretensions of the presidency. But we admittedly live in hype-world, and any habit, once established, is quickly perceived as the eternal and unchanging natural order of things, so scaling back would have to be done carefully and at the right moment. This year was that right moment, and we blew it.
mudshark @ 24:
A false flag would be best implemented after candidates have been nominated on both sides.
Though the endless smirk can simply be because he knows Harry & Nancy won't lift a finger to hold him accountable for a damned thing.
Paraphrasing Stalin, "Fuck an intern, it's a crime. Fuck over a country, it's a statistic."
Joementum @ 32:
Excellent!
This is very scary. About ten percent of the Democrats are insane.
When discussing the popularity of Congress, one should remember that we tend to think much more highly of our own representatives than we do of the institution as a whole. I think it is inaccurate to compare the popularity of Congress as a whole with a specific individual like George Bush.
Mike Mathers @ 37:
My Senator is Harry Reid. Guess again.
When you think about it, what has this administration done that is positive? War is hardly a positive, destroying the economy is not something you give someone kudos for. Dividing the hell out of the country is not a good thing either.
On Fox this morning they are talking about if the US pulls out of Iraq, Iran will feel emboldened. In other words they are basically saying what Mittens said yesterday. If a Dem wins in November it will give terrorist free rein.
I hope the fear factor doesn't work again this election cycle, there is nothing productive about making a country feel fearful. That's what got us in the mess we are now.
Funny how our Representatives in Congress and the present administration have interpreted "The Will of the People" to mean we are leaving everything to them.
xoites defends Constitution @ 36:
Or have learned to not take/make politics so intensely personal.
"Only 28 percent of them expressed strong approval."
I believe Donald Rumsfeld refered to people such as those that still support Bush as "the dead enders".
peaceful easy feeling @ 42:
Your right, removing Habeas Corpus, spying on Americans, illegal wars are nothing personal. Its just business.
xoites defends Constitution @ 44:
I could add to that list and make it complete but i have to go to work in an hour.
Mike Mathers @ 37:
While my own rep. is George Miller, Nancy Pelosi is the next district over. And California gave y'all Feinstein.
stash food , clothes , gold / silver , guns , RADIOS , med supplies , maps , get ready bush/chainy , will not leave office .
Votes , we dont need no stinking votes , we count them .
I've never been polled about anything even once. My thoughts count as much as my vote does (I live in Florida).
No America has a 30% quasi-fascist, bone dumb authoritarian block that will be screaming about their love of freedom while standing in line at a stop and frisk toll booth installed to save us all from the terrorists and their head-choppy ways.
That is the base the GOP loves to feed and nurture.
-GSD
It’s almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore.
And since American can't stand the thought of Bush anymore, expect there to be a series of photo ops between now and the end of his term, showing his compassionate conservative side (like visiting Tornado victims in Tennessee), where he has hardly created an atmosphere of hope or caring in the last 7 years. Just like nodding in the direction of Peace in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel telling them in his ineffable way to "get 'er done", I predict that we will see this puppet-figurehead of a lame duck President bopping all around the country trying to keep (or make) himself relevant over the next year.
All the American Public wants from him is to "just go away" and take Cheney, Pickles, and Rove with him.
xoites defends Constitution @ 44:
False dichotomy.
This unremarkable little man will never rise to the "45%" as he does not give a toss about the American people. It is all about taking care of his small cadre of friends and contributors. Chim-Chim and his Grease-ball VP are now on a tear to see how much money they can siphon out of the treasury before they are booted out next January.
Someone should ask the Dem candidates if they will prosecute these clowns as president if crimes are uncovered (which they already have)...
Internetjunkie @ 16:
Remember this is the Repulsions we are talking about, so not merely just wiretaps, but photos, videos, names and addresses and souvenirs of the children they have molested raped and whatever.
aka the GOP, Grand old Perverts.
peaceful easy feeling @ 51:
Smoke and mirrors on your part. Name one member of this administration who does not take politics personally. This misdirection on your part is rather tedious.
ConcernedCanuck @ 6:
Then there is AP's poll which isn't really flattering to say the least.
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 8, 6:31 AM ET
WASHINGTON - It's almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Congress' approval fell to just 22 percent, equaling its poorest grade in the survey. Both marks dropped by 4 percentage points since early January.
"A remarkable poll shift to 45 percent." Gee, that would be spectacular, wouldn't it?
Talk about damning with faint praise! The most optimistic propagandists in his own party predict that by the time he leaves office, a full 45% of Americans will approve of Bush, leaving 55% that don't. And these same fools tell us we have to elect a Republican this year, otherwise the war and the economy will suffer. So please vote for McCain, even though the same conservatives who hope Bush will somehow get to 45% from 30% can't stand McCain and prefers Hillary, and even though Bush's own flunkies told people in South Carolina eight years ago that McCain had fathered a black child and was mentally unstable.
Folks, if somebody wrote a political novel with this material, it would never get published.
the 32% is a myth. that or the sample respondents are from a narrow profile.
I question the timing.
Rasmussen has Bush going from 35% to 39% during January.
BTW, AP is freaking biased anyway, so I give them no credibility.
with the scope of the damage that the busch crime family has achieved, how can there actually be 32%, almost 100,000,000 people, happy with this regime?
Neo @ 58:
we are being lied to. in order to make the repugs palatable, approval ratings for bush must appear to go up.
Theres an interesting video featured on MSNBC's video section, of some motorway flyover bridge being controlled demolished in Iraq, complete with "F%$# yea" commentary by the perps filming and doing the deed.
Very reminiscent of the 'Abu Gestapo' torture photos that got posted up on various websites and swapped on CDR in Iraq.
Seems that mil or contractors not just being happy with committing 'crimes against humanity' by destroying civilian infrastructure, but they have to tell the world about it too, talk about being criminal and dumb too.
Theres also an interesting tidbit in the 04 statement (via WAPO) by one of the Abu Garib prisoners, that mentions the accent of the person raping that child in the prison, seems that whoever released the official statement had to block out the nationality of the rapist, to protect them from identification and consequences, nice people we have leeching our tax dollars.
Everyone is sick of Bush. As to the Congress, this is still a Republican obstructionist Congress. Hence, sick of that also. In other words, sick of Rebublicans. The Republicans just can't get it.
xoites defends Constitution @ 45:
Only if it was an open ended list. He's not done yet. I'm sure there's at least a dozen things he could do to make things worse. And he probably will.
Anyone who thinks that shrub haters are just being pissy aren't paying attention. Or they've got their lips firmly attached to a reslug ass.
As far as the 'numbers' go I wouldn't believe a word of it. The only reason he's not into the negatives at this point is because they make that shit up.
MargeAggedon @ 63:
As far as the 'numbers' go I wouldn't believe a word of it. The only reason he's not into the negatives at this point is because they make that shit up.
Indeed, in days of yore any incoming regime would have gibbeted (alive in a cage) the scum and left them to feed the wildlife,
thus combining public revenge, deterrence and a feel good factor too towards our furry feathered friends.
Republicans always waffle on about 'olden values', maybe their wish should come true...
Gibbeting sounds like a good sentence after the trials and convictions for treason.
pissed off patricia @ 39:
9/11: The Day America Learned To Be Afraid.
It amazes me that the very people who blather about not giving in to the terrorists and staying the course in Iraq are the same ones who seem to be living in perpetual fear of waking up to the muezzin calling them to prayer and their wives & daughters wearing burqas.
They warn us about giving in and surrendering, about the danger of being taken over, about Islamic plots to take over Congress, and how proud they are not to even acknowledge a non-Christian faith.
This is the can-do spirit that fought in two World Wars? That built a navy that is still unmatched by any other? That sent men to the moon and brought them back safely?
The truth is that these neocons are, and always have been, a bunch of cowards. They like to say that in the face of an attack, it's the liberals who would be demanding answers and asking for guns to protect them, when that's exactly what they did and continue to do. Surveillance, guns, and waterboarding has become the new representative trio of America - forget baseball, mom, and apple pie. We're awash in laws and offices that sound like bad examples of failed fascist states.
If you want to take America, you have to take it all. Cross an ocean or two to do it, then fight for every town, every neighborhood, every street. Eschatological fantasies have replaced common sense; Christian fascists want to ride off in a blaze of glory, fighting the minions of evil, when this simply isn't going to happen. Not in a million years, not with a dozen more 9/11's and Osama bin Laden cloning himself from sheep's livers.
America's strength is in the very freedoms Bush and his cohorts are busy ripping to shreds, and that conservatives keep telling us we're being weak-kneed traitors for being concerned about. It's not about showing strength, any more than our reputations are established by schoolyard bragging about whose father can beat up whose. It's about courage, which isn't reflected in strength of arms alone; it's about confidence. It's about honoring those values we've fought so hard to preserve over the 225+ years this country has existed. The Constitution isn't about protecting the arses of incompetent politicians, despite those politicians telling us we need to grow up and deal.
Yes, we're facing an armed and dangerous enemy - but one that benefits from an unthinking response. Our detention of 'illegal enemy combatants,' our secret renditions, our use of waterboarding only recruits for the likes of al-Qaeda. We're not being smart, and we're not fighting smart.
messed up that quote and post sorry
xoites defends Constitution @ 54:
Another dismissive comment which has missed its mark. Of course people who make their livelihood in government or working for political parties might be expected to take "politics" intensely personal, but I was clearly referring to the citizenry at large.
Robert Lockwood Mills @ 56:
Actually, it did - it's called Interface and written by Stephen Bury (which is a pen name for science-fiction author Neal Stephenson, writing in conjunction with his uncle).
A political hack takes a bum off a park bench and turns him into the perfect candidate ...
peaceful easy feeling @ 67:
Have you read our Constitution, its starts "we the people" and guess what, we elect people to public offices to do our bidding.
The USA is a democratic constitutional republic not a fascist monarchy or some feudal regime.
They are our elected representatives, not 'fantasy voice in the sky' appointed leaders.
Chimpy did not pull a sword out of a stone, nor did a UFO land in Dc and tell America that "GWB was god's representative on earth, and suffer scum"
He was elected !!! twice to run the country (properly) then leave office.
Impeach, indict, convict, incarcerate.
Shadowgm @ 68:
non-fiction of course.
Why is anyone surprised that there was no SOTU bounce? Traitor Bush has been lying to us for 8 years, and we're sick of it.
A pox upon the criminal administration of George Warpig Busholini!
mudshark @ 20:
Grand-Pappy prescott and his cohort adolf would be proud.
another 800+ comments on bushs lack of 'bounce' after SOTU
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/08/thinkfast-february-8-2008/#comments
Barely stand the thought??? I can barely stand the sight of him...JD
oops, typo! correction, 282 comments - not 800...
Can't stand the sight of him? we shouldn't be able to see him at all for all the forks stuck in him.
The only "bounce" Busholini should get is from the WH into The Hague!
There was no bounce because they do not care. Pelosi's taken impeachment off the table. There are no laws that apply to this president and his cabinet so they aren't even trying to hide their indifference to the law and to the people they swore to protect.
Robert Lockwood Mills @ 56:
Or better yet a movie that was shown twice in 69' and 70' starring Gene Hackman , directed by Richard Sarafian , written by Sinclair Lewis , " Shadow on the land " , shown twice . Why only twice because it shows the gov/corp taking over Amer-cia , and making us all slaves . It is getting close to the time to fight for our country on our own soil .
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