The latest AP-Ipsos poll contains more great news for those of us in the Reality Based Community and more bad news for the Busha Nostra and their congressional appeasers.
Highlights include:
70% of Republicans think civil war will break out in Iraq.
70% of Americans think US is on wrong track
37% approve of his job performance
74% of Republicans approve his performance, down from 82% in February
36% approval rating on domestic affairs, down from 39% last month
43% approval on foreign policy and terrorism
40% approval on Iraq and economy
2/3 disapprove of Congress job performance
Excellent Smithers, Excellent...
Actually, I don't believe that Bush and Congress's numbers are that good. I think that there's still a number of people who believe that you don't speak out publicly against your president and/or government during wartime, and those people keep their comments positive or neutral, despite their privately held misgivings.
No wonder Rethuglican members of Congress are fleeing from Bush like roaches from a burning building. I guess election years can make one rethink their loyalties. We shouldn't let them. Every single Democrat running this year should fill their campaign ads with photos of their opponents with Bush, Abramson and DeLay. And they should detail every time that the opponent has spoken out in favor of a Bush policy or voted in favor of a Bush-approved piece of legislation that turned out to be a boondoggle.
Many of these guys have been riding Bush's coattails for years. Now is the time to make sure that the American public is reminded of that every time some repug pretends to flash a little election-year "independence."
Oh, I'm sorry. Was that an Act of Sedition?
7 comments:
Great post blsabob!
However, would much rather see the Democrats address actual issues instead of running ona "we're not them" type platform. It is time that our party comes up with solid issues, as well as a positive message regarding their potential contributions.
But I do agree that this country is sick of the Bush's bullshit. at least he didn't get his little port deal.
As for positive contributions, I think the new Contract (or whatever they want to call it) should be focused on reform. REAL lobbying reform, REAL campaign finance reform. REAL reform of Homeland Security Department, the Intelligence agencies and the Military...
A large part of their election strategy should be to actually introduce legislation aimed at cleaning up corrupt practices and changing legal practices that favor the oligarchs over the rest of us.
But hey, this is America, with the same American public and same American media that gave us 3 years' worth of 24/7 coverage of Clinton's cock and Yellow Ribbon Hysteria. So even if the Democrats wanted to take the high road, they know that they have to play to their constituencies. They have to go with what works. So I'd settle for a good old Rovian-style smear campaign, as long as it gets the scumbags out of office.
Hell, if Max Cleland can be morphed into Osama bin Laden, why the hell shouldn't every Rethug member of Congress be morphed into Abramson, Bush, Cheney or DeLay?
Democrats will get their chance to make a difference if they can put together a competent message and push their ideas.
I want to underline, highlight, and support what BND said about the "we're not them" campaign. That gets us nowhere. I don't think there's any way to save the GOP's face this time around, they've screwed the pooch this time around. The "leaps of faith" that America trusted them with in the past election aren't turning out as well as we hoped. I think that's fair to say to both sides.
I just think it's so important to remember that just because one party is about to get fired, it doesn't mean that the other has to take over. It's never too late for fresh ideas. Hell, maybe some young Repubs can come up and make waves, maybe the Dems have the best ideas.
-The economy is still suffering from massive outsourcing and a startling trade deficit that's aggrivating our port security problem. We haven't really done anything to remedy or even address outsourcing. In my independent point of view, we need a tax code that makes America the best place to do business, and actually encourages others to invest in us, not "lock" ourselves in with income tax incentives.
-Iraq is not a very successful mission at this point. We signed up for a "grab the dictator and get out" campaign that's turned into a babysitting job where the parents are never coming home and they'll never pay the babysitter and the babysitter's bank account is taking a gigantic loss from it. I still think they could have done very well to invade and wreck the dictatorship of Saddam, but whatever the hell is going on there now cannot be the best way to do this.
-Censorship has gotten worse than ever. The FCC has cracked down on radio to the point where FM is unlistenable. Thank God for Sirius, but I'm sure they'll try to police that too, even though it's a pay-per-view medium. Look what they did to cable TV!
Anyways, it'd be nice to hear some ideas that bring along both the left and right.
Fair Tax, anyone? Hey, with all these disgraced policy makers in Washington, it'd be nice to have a consumption tax that they can't manipulate and distribute for votes and money to maintain the status quo.
If the Democrats need a fresh idea for sweeping reform, they could adopt the Fair Tax and clean house. It'd be tough to find a divide along party lines, since a comsumption-based tax isn't a left-wing or right-wing thing, it's a restoration of Constitutional freedom. I'll go for whichever party support that.
by the way, I love the word "boondoggle".
It's good to still see it in circulation.
Great points Axe! i'm still not sold on the whole consumption tax idea, but at least it is an idea (something that is rare in politics nowdays.)
This country has become more divided than ever before, and it is the politicians' faults. I'm including both sides of the fence here. We need to clean house and start fresh. It's our country and it's time to take it back.
Revolution at the ballot box!
I understand your concern about consumption-based taxes. A tax administered by a non-corrupt public servant would be ideal. Due to human nature, there's only enough non-corrupt public servants to prove that they do exist, however not nearly enough of them to operate an agency like the IRS.
Therefore, we have to let money talk. Give retailers an incentive to collect the tax, and let them keep part of it. Consumption-based taxes like the Fair Tax are impossible to tinker with for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. Governmental transparency and investment propogation are the main reasons why I like it so much.
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