Hurricane Corrina...hugging poor people...Iraq...mess...Cindy Sheehan...Rove in trouble...Brownie gone...poll numbers...Chertoff screwed up...mom sounding bad with poor people...Condi shopping for shoes...poll numbers...poor people all over America...Anderson Cooper mad...poll numbers...gotta clear brush...gotta hug poor...don't wanna fire Karl...fire Chertoff...poll numbers...Iraq...gas prices...poll numbers...go biking...hug...don't like hugging...poor people...bad...must...escape...White House...
Imagine what must be going through George W. Bush's febrile brain when he reads the latest NBC News/Washington Post poll, which has always been one of the more positive ones:
Bush’s job approval has plummeted to 40 percent, an all-time low for the president. That’s a drop of 6 points from the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken in July, and it’s consistent with results from other recent national surveys. The poll also finds that just 37 percent of respondents approve of Bush’s job handling Iraq, compared with 58 percent who disapprove — another all-time low. In addition, 55 percent want to reduce the number of troops in Iraq, while just 36 percent want to maintain the current level there.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Bush is done.
The poll also revealed a particularly damning bit of information about our preparedness in the face of Bush's favorite election-year topic: the terrorist attack. To wit:
After Katrina, 75 percent now believe the United States is not adequately prepared for a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. That’s an increase since June 2002, nine months after Sept. 11, when 66 percent believed this.
I find that last bit of information startling. Not the 75 number from this week, but the 66 number from 2002. In 2002, 66 percent of people polled said the "security president" hadn't done his job. And yet, the guy was "re-elected." Probably criminally, and Mark Crispin Miller's new book will have more dope on that. But now a full 3/4 of people polled believe that we do not have competent national security.
And they're clearly right.
Bush cares about us having the appearance of security, not real security.
Time to move on, George. We need a real president, and sooner than in 2008.