First Door on the Left

The Pew Research Center:

Bush’s overall approval measure stands at 33%, the lowest rating of his presidency. Bush’s job performance mark is now about the same as the ratings for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders (34% and 32%, respectively), which showed no improvement in spite of public approval of the congressional response to the ports deal.

The president’s ratings for handling of several specific issues, particularly terrorism, have also declined sharply. Just 42% now approve of Bush’s job in handling terrorist threats, an 11-point drop since February. In January 2005, as Bush was starting his second term, 62% approved of his handling of terrorist threats…

President Bush’s declining image also is reflected in the single-word descriptions people use to describe their impression of the president. Three years ago, positive one-word descriptions of Bush far outnumbered negative ones. Over the past two years, the positive-negative balance has been roughly equal. But the one-word characterizations have turned decidedly negative since last July.

Currently, 48% use a negative word to describe Bush compared with just 28% who use a positive term, and 10% who use neutral language.

The changing impressions of the president can best be viewed by tracking over time how often words come up in these top-of-the-mind associations. Until now, the most frequently offered word to describe the president was “honest,” but this comes up far less often today than in the past. Other positive traits such as “integrity” are also cited less, and virtually no respondent used superlatives such as “excellent” or “great” ­ terms that came up fairly often in previous surveys.

The single word most frequently associated with George W. Bush today is “incompetent,” and close behind are two other increasingly mentioned descriptors: “idiot” and “liar.” All three are mentioned far more often today than a year ago.

Someone is lying. Both of these stories cannot be true.

Myths of Iraq

During a recent visit to Baghdad, I saw an enormous failure. On the part of our media. The reality in the streets, day after day, bore little resemblance to the sensational claims of civil war and disaster in the headlines.

No one with first-hand experience of Iraq would claim the country’s in rosy condition, but the situation on the ground is considerably more promising than the American public has been led to believe. Lurid exaggerations and instant myths obscure real, if difficult, progress.

I left Baghdad more optimistic than I was before this visit. While cynicism, political bias and the pressure of a 24/7 news cycle accelerate a race to the bottom in reporting, there are good reasons to be soberly hopeful about Iraq’s future.

Iraqis Find 85 Bodies in 24-Hour Period

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings – a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said Tuesday.

The dead included at least 27 bodies stacked in a mass grave in an eastern Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

The bloodshed – the second wave of mass killings in Iraq since bombers destroyed an important Shiite shrine last month – followed weekend attacks in a teeming Shiite slum in which 58 people died and more than 200 were wounded.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced a ban on driving in the capital to coincide with the first meeting of the new parliament Thursday. The ban takes effect at 8 p.m. Wednesday and lasts until 4 p.m. Thursday.

So… who is lying? Someone is.

Best to save this picture now because somehow I suspect that within a day or two George W. Bush will be claiming that he never met Claude A. Allen.

Allen-Rove-Bush

Bush Shocked by Arrest of Former Adviser

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush on Saturday said he was shocked and saddened to learn that former domestic policy adviser Claude Allen was charged with theft for allegedly receiving phony refunds at department stores.

“When I heard the story last night, I was shocked, and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment – if it’s true – that we were not fully informed,” Bush said. “Shortly thereafter, I felt really sad for the Allen family.”

I was shocked, too. Mr. Bush had a domestic policy adviser?

Funny that he gets shocked by something like this, but not by his vice president getting drunk and gunning a man down.

Here’s yet another poll for the radical right wingers and the Bush apologists to attack as “biased”…

Bush’s Approval Rating Falls to New Low

WASHINGTON (AP) – More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush’s performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.

Nearly four out of five Americans, including 70 percent of Republicans, believe civil war will break out in Iraq – the bloody hot spot upon which Bush has staked his presidency. Nearly 70 percent of people say the U.S. is on the wrong track, a 6-point jump since February…

The poll suggests that most Americans wonder whether Bush is up to the job. The survey, conducted Monday through Wednesday of 1,000 people, found that just 37 percent approve of his overall performance. That is the lowest of his presidency.

“Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn’t know me is almost certainly lying.” — Jack Abramoff (pictured below, right, with former Majority Leader Tom DeLay)

DeLay_Abramoff

Today’s Washington Post editorial…

Caught on Tape

ON THE DAY before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, federal emergency officials warned President Bush that the hurricane could be “the big one,” the storm the region had long feared; that the Superdome, the shelter of last resort in New Orleans, was below sea level and might well lose its roof; that medical and mortuary teams might not be prepared; and that the levees might not hold back the floodwaters. Mr. Bush, speaking during a videoconference, a tape of which was obtained by the Associated Press, responded by reassuring state officials that “we are fully prepared.”

Without a doubt, the tape provides evidence that the White House received ample warning of the catastrophe. Yet within days of that videoconference, Mr. Bush would excuse the federal government’s extraordinarily poor performance by telling an interviewer that “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” Moreover, at the time of the conference the White House had no idea whether federal emergency services were truly prepared. On the tape, the president doesn’t ask any questions about preparedness, and there is no evidence in documents since released that he was any more engaged before or after the conference. Had anyone called the Defense Department? Was the National Guard en route? Were local Army bases prepared to help? Were emergency food and water supplies in place? The president, like everyone around him, appears to have assumed that everything would run like clockwork, just as it was supposed to on paper.

Before Louisiana state and city officials get too excited about this video, it’s worth noting that similar criticisms could be lodged against them. Another tape recently released to the AP reveals that Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) reassured the president that the levees had held — three hours after they had broken. New Orleans officials also understood in advance of Katrina the scale of the potential catastrophe — they had carried out simulations of a levee breach — but were unable to cope. Even some specific consequences of the hurricane, such as the failure of low-income people to leave the city, had been predicted. Yet little was done to accommodate them, either.

The tape adds to a growing body of evidence that the disaster was a failure of execution, not prediction. That indicates to us that federal and local government employees must spend more time carrying out practice exercises and involve more people in disaster planning. It also should tell the nation something about the value of leadership. The Gulf Coast might have suffered less had the president just asked a few people the right questions.

Emphasis added.

Four days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States, George W. Bush said “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

Liar.

Video shows Bush got explicit Katrina warning

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.”

How anyone can still claim to support this man or believe a word that comes out of his mouth is beyond me.

Study: Few Americans Know 1st Amendment

Americans apparently know more about “The Simpsons” than they do about the First Amendment.

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.

Joe Madeira, director of exhibitions at the museum, said he was surprised by the results.

Joe Madeira may be surprised, but I am not. This is, after all, the country that (supposedly) elected George W. Bush. Twice.