Only those who would support Bush if he were caught sodomizing children on live television still support him now.
CBS News poll:
26% think the country is going in the right direction.
69% think it's on the wrong track.
37% approve of the job C-Plus Caligula is doing. (Only 29% of independents, those "swing voters" on which he depended)
46% approve of his job on the so-called war on terrorism.
32% approve of his handling of the Iraq war.
32% approve of his handling of the economy.
45% approve of his handling of Hurricane Katrina.
32% say Bush shares their priorities for the country.
45% say he has strong leadership qualities. (So much for approval of that "resoluteness" that as long as we're in the hole that is Iraq, we might as well keep digging.)
10% think the economy is getting better.
44% think that oil companies are to blame for rising gas and oil prices (which means they're noting the insane profits that oil companies are making, at the same time that Congressional Republicans want to give them even MORE government money).
62% favor cutting spending in Iraq to pay for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction.
Now if Democrats think they are the automatic beneficiaries of this dissatisfaction and all they have to do is more of the same, guess again: 46% have an unfavorable view of Democrats vs. 53% for Republicans. This means nearly HALF still disapprove of the job Democrats are doing.
The Democratic Party has to start offering a very real alternative to Republican policies, not just a less incompetent version of the same. Most Americans do NOT want a massive transfer of wealth to the already-rich. Most Americans want health care, good schools, roads, transit systems that work, -- and they want national security. So far the Democrats have utterly failed to articulate a vision or set of policies. Last weekend, Rahm Emannuel made a dismal presence on
Press the Meat, offering rebuttal after rebuttal, stating what Democrats want to do, and nothing about how to get there. Given that the Republicans still own the voting apparatus, they'd better get their act together PDQ, or else we'll be looking at this kind of country -- and worse -- in perpetuity.