Sometimes, a number is so stunning that all you can do is stare.
24%
Look at it.
Think about it.
Less than one-fourth.
The most unpopular president ever.
According to Reuters:
Bush’s job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month’s record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent.
Down five percent. In one month.
Down five percent, in one month, from the previous record low!
The mind reels. The mind stumbles. The mind falls down.
The national telephone survey of 991 likely voters, conducted October 10 through October 14, found barely one-quarter of Americans, or 26 percent, believe the country is headed in the right direction.
The poll found declining confidence in U.S. economic and foreign policy. About 18 percent gave positive marks to foreign policy, down from 24 percent, and 26 percent rated economic policy positively, down from 30 percent.
You know what’s worse than being a president with a record low 24% approval rating? Being an opposition party that is incapable of opposing a president with a record low 24% approval rating.
It’s embarrassing.
It’s humiliating.
Considering the real life consequences, it’s also disastrous.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent part of yesterday running from her Democratic colleague, Rep. Pete Stark. Stark said bad things about Bush.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent part of last week running from his colleague, Sen. Chris Dodd. Dodd tried to stop a bad Bush policy.
Pelosi and Reid did not spend much time running from Bush.
They did not resolve to stop his war.
They did not resolve to stop him from torturing people.
They did not resolve to stop him from indiscriminately spying on the American people.
They did not resolve to force him to comply with subpoenas.
They did not resolve to force him to comply with laws, national and international.
The elected leaders of the Democratic Party are afraid to stand up to a president with a 24% approval rating.
The elected leaders of the Democratic Party are afraid of being criticized for standing up to a president with a 24% approval rating.
Perhaps that’s why Reuters also reported this Zogby poll result:
A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month’s record low.
Paltry. That’s a good word for it: paltry.
Congress always polls poorly. But this is a record. A record of paltriness.
11 percent!
They’re less popular than Bush.
They’re less than half as popular as Bush!
It’s clearly not from opposing him, because they clearly haven’t.
Maybe it’s time they tried something different.
Maybe it’s time they tried opposing him.
For real.
Because if you can’t stand up to a president with a 24% approval rating, what can you stand up to? What can you stand for?
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on Iraq funding, I could not care less if she chides Stark.
Stark’s statement was fun and all, but who gives a shit really?
Let’s worry about the stuff that really matters.
I used to think that they were trying to coast through nd win in ’08.
Now…..I don’t think they are even THAT together.
As far as I can tell they are just scared little bunny rabbits, twisting in whatever foul wind The Repuglics blow at them.
Can we hear lead a revolt of the base, to somehow try to send them the message?
I just posted a vid of “It ain’t me Babe” to dkmich….since I feel so powerless, but maybe it is me/us.
Can we start a movement here?
how are they going to stand up to a country that
willshould Never Give An Inch in 2008?the 24% president has recordings of their phone calls, satellite pictures of them from space, a database of every purchase they’ve ever made and all of their medical records.
duke1976’s “welcome to the police state,” and teacherken’s “is it too late for outrage” in orange, i am reduced to tears. but through the tears i will make yet another effort to goad these politicians into be statesman. somehow there has to be a way to reach them. it is a foregone conclusion for me that i will not vote for a lesser evil. somehow they have to be made to feel accountable. i cannot support nancy pelosi in her “promise” because i cannot trust her to come through. there will be another capitulation. if she can’t stand up for what is right now, why will she then? what will it take for this country to wake up and realize it’s foundation has crumbled? and those we have elected are responsible for not performing the diligent maintenance to preserve it.
24% stunningly high.
Stunning. What the democrats need on their asses.
I frankly find your approach too calculating, and too much like the policial business as usual that, at bottom, is the issue here.
You may argue that thats just how it is. I’m saying it needs to change, and one way to demonstrate that is to get outside of the ‘box’ politics is transacted within.
I don’t care which party is elected, the same shit goes on. What we need is a commitment to change the way its done
along with the smarts to get enough control to make the changes. In this instance, and with Bush so weakened, what prevents the Dems from playing it differently, from standing up against the idiocy? Are they still dancing to their consultants’ tunes, or are they leading?
If you were Pelosi or Reid, how would you have responded in such a way as to show that you believe what they’re saying is correct, or how would you argue they are making some sort of mistake in the position/statements they make?
in the club, it’s legal and political process, that establishes power and creates legislation. It is however an arena in which perception by us the spectators and advocates is important, as we provide that power via money and votes and the will to be governed. The unwillingness of Nancy to allow others to draw blood when needed allows cover for insane Bushies and endows them with humanity. It diminishes the extent and extremity of their crimes., it also smacks of cowardice.
No justice here, no liberty
No reason, no blame
There’s no cause to taint the sweetest taste of blood
And greetings from the nation
As we shake the hands of time
They’re taking their ovations
The vultures stay behind
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
So they still look up to him and he can still look down at them.
We are so F***ed!
Yeah, not a fucking thing is right. That IS the problem.
Its just who, not what, thats in question.
About two hours after I saw the poll numbers in the paper Thurs. morning, I asked my class to answer the right track/wrong track question because I thought it would be interesting to compare the responses of a class of 25-30 community college students with the national poll numbers.
All but one said: wrong track.
I was kind of shocked.
bush’s “feelings” (do psychopaths HAVE feelings?) than they are about the lives and deaths of the troops. The only time the Democratic leadership even tries to use its power is to rebuke another Democrat like Rep. Stark who has the courage to tell the truth to those in power.
They prove that they care more about the opinions of the drama queens in the GOP than the do about the lives and deaths of the troops. The Democratic leadership has a very short-term memory: When the republicans were in the majority and said outrageous things in the Senate or House about Democrats, not only did they not apologize–they and the pundits in their pockets (limbaugh, et al) snickered & called the Dems “wusses” for being offended in the first place.
is, in my opinion, cockamamie.
It is very difficult to know how to answer, as it is unclear what the question refers to – my congressman? The party leadership (of which party?) The whole congress?
Add to that the amount of ignorance on the part of the American public and I don’t see how the results are really useful