It’s the honesty, stupid

November 11, 2005

I’ve been posting all week about all the various polls highlighting Bush’s faltering public support, but the one issue that has to keep the Bush gang up at night is the question of the president’s honesty.

Most Americans say they aren’t impressed by the ethics and honesty of the Bush administration, already under scrutiny for its justifications for an unpopular war in Iraq and its role in the leak of a covert CIA officer’s identity.

Almost six in 10 — 57% — said they do not think the Bush administration has high ethical standards and the same portion says President Bush is not honest, an AP-Ipsos poll found. […]

“Honesty is a huge issue because even people who disagreed with his policies respected his integrity,” said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist from the University of Texas.

I think that last point can’t be emphasized enough. Part of Bush’s pitch has always been that you can trust him, regardless of whether you agree with him. Americans, for reasons that I’ve never understood, used to buy into this. Not anymore.

Also note, this AP-Ipsos poll is hardly the first survey to notice.

* The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll found that by a 3 to 1 ratio, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush. Only 34% think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government.

* A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans “deliberately misled the American public” before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

* The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found a 17-point drop since January in those who see the president as honest and straightforward. Only 33% give Bush a positive rating on honesty, while 47% give a negative rating. Moreover, 57% believe Bush “deliberately misled” the nation about Iraq.

If the public doesn’t trust Bush, the chances of the oft-rumored “comeback” decline considerably. Every claim he makes will be viewed with skepticism and distrust. A man without credibility doesn’t make much of a salesman.

It’s as if most of the country is collectively saying, “Fool us once…”

Do you think the Bush administration manipulated the prewar intelligence on Iraq?
Yes
No

LIVE VOTE ON CNN.com

  • As of 12:06 CST:

    Do you think the Bush administration manipulated the prewar intelligence on Iraq?

    Yes – 76% 35,120 votes

    No – 24% 11,182 votes
    Total: 46,302 votes

    Good morning, America!!! How’s that coffee?

  • Forgot to say this:

    Hey Bush, go ahead and attack us Dems…

    The majority of the American people think you’re a liar, so you’re actually HELPING us every time you try to inflict damage!

    So… bring it on!!!

  • What I can’t understand is how this
    buffoon, who never earned a thing
    in his life, acquired such trust and
    admiration from the American
    people in the first place.

  • Amen, hark. Just goes to show that if one has a sufficeint amount of money behind them, they can, at least for a period of time, fool many, many americans.

  • Hark, I agree.

    But also, I think he really didn’t have the admiration of that many Americans, he tapped into the Republican hatred of the Clinton administration, and after 9/11 Americans HOPED that Bush was a good leader because that’s what we needed.

    Hope is all many people need to believe, unfortunately. They also hope to live forever, and thus believe in a raft of ridiculous superstitions. It’s no surprise that these two groups overlap significantly.

  • cnn poll update:

    as of 3:23 PM CST

    Do you think the Bush administration manipulated the prewar intelligence on Iraq?

    Yes 74% 84907 votes

    No 26% 29132 votes
    Total: 114039 votes

  • Hark,

    That Bush was a incurious buffoon who knew nothing of the world, had failed in every business venture, had weasled out of his military obligation, was an unrehabilited “dry drunk”, was an embarrassing speaker, proud of executing imbiciles, etc. was well known prior to his election. That he was ever elected/selected says much more about contemporary American society than it does about him, his crime family, or his handlers.

  • hark and Ed,

    Bush’s “honesty” was manufactured by the punditry and the CCCP through their relentless caricature of Gore as a liar or at least as always stretching the truth. The pundits and the CCCP painted a virtuoso portrait of Bush as a competent, compassionate, religious and ethical man, when the facts were exactly the opposite. Blame it on “Clinton scandal fatigue” — that the Rethugs and the pundits and the CCCP created out of almost whole cloth — and you have one of the greatest miscarriages of justice … and enough tragedy to write 1,000 Italian operas and at least 5,000 Greek tragedy plays.

  • But just because Shruby is losing his 100% virgin vinyl leatherette covering of integrity doesn’t mean the Right’s gonna stop wanting what it wants.

    There are civil liberties to remove and sex acts to interrupt. Regulations to quash and national forests to sell. Not to mention intelligent designs to promote and scientific ideas to delete. There’s so much to do before this country can be said to be under control.

    But they’re going to have to start sprinting across open ground with nothing but their good Republican cloth coats to deflect a blizzard of criticisms and inquiries zinging and pinging all around ’em.

    It’s now time to flush these bastards out and call them on their lies and bad plans along with those of Dear Prevaricator.

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