Reason #1 why Bush will have trouble bouncing back

October 29, 2005

In a very brief set of remarks at the White House yesterday, the president addressed the Plame scandal by explaining that he wouldn’t let it become a distraction from his responsibilities. “I got a job to do,” Bush said.

This tack is part of a concerted strategy to help the president weather the storm, but there’s a good reason to question whether this will work.

John D. Podesta, who was chief of staff to Clinton, said Bush may be more constrained by his troubles than Clinton was by his. Noting that Clinton’s approval ratings remained above 60 percent throughout the impeachment battle, while Bush’s are in the low 40s, Podesta said, “When Clinton said, ‘I’m going back to do my work,’ people cheered,” Podesta said. “When Bush says, ‘I’m going to do the job I’ve been doing,’ people say, ‘Oh, no.’ “

Bingo.

Line up GWB’s major initiatives and you’ll see they share the same dishonest MO.

SS reform was a legit issue distorted into a mere backdoor way to introduce private accounts.

The response to 9/11 was shamefully contorted into a basis for invading Iraq

Medicare drug prescription was predicated on withholding cost projections as a way of deceiving conservatives who wouldn’t pay for anything over a certain amount.

It’s no mistake that GWB’s ratings started to tumble with the twin revelations of the Presidential Commission on WMDs and the gory details of the trillion dollar cost of private account transition.

But as usual, that’s just my two cents.

  • Low 40s? Last I saw, pretty much every poll had Bush’s numbers in the high 30s.

    Perhaps his numbers have bounced back while I was distracted by Fitzmas – after all, it’s been two whole months since Bush let an entire American city be destroyed.

  • Unless you’re a CEO or a major stockholder, the Bush Crime Family has produced exactly NO successes and an enormously long and embarrassing string of failures. We need but a small percentage of the ignorant and hateful to realize that by next year.

  • Bush won’t have any trouble in my
    state (Idaho). Our major newspaper
    buried the Libby indictment on
    the next to last page of the
    main section today. I’d
    say more Idahoans believe
    in evolution than have even
    heard of Plamegate.

  • I saw Robert Dallek (presidential historian) interviewed on Charlie Rose last night. When Rose asked him if Bush could somehow bounce back, Dallek said no – that he has polarized the country and made too many people angry. There’s no way he can rally support for anything he does.

  • Let’s not forget the other big problems facing Bush and his detestable
    administration:
    l. The Abramoff scandal. David Savafian has been indicted and this
    case has yet to come to trial. When it does big and nasty revelations
    lie instore for the GOP.
    2. The Noe/Ohio GOP scandal. This ties into money laundering of
    Bush re-election campaign money and other ugly items. It will focus
    attention again on the controversial role Ohio played in the 2004 election
    and can call Bush’ legitimacy into question.
    3. The Delay scandal. Tommy boy isn’t going down all by himself.
    When the pressure gets tough enough he’ll sing some songs that
    won’t sound so sweet to the Republicans.
    4. The New Orleans Debacle. Say what he will but Bush still has to
    answer for his promises to rebuild the city while not giving it any funds
    to do so. He may forget that Lakeview and St. Bernard Parish were
    formerly GOP strongholds. They might not be so sweet on Bush if
    he continues to betray their trust. Are the Democrats listening?
    Bush apparently forgot the lesson learned by his old man: If you say
    it in public you can’t take it back. Be careful what you promise since
    you’ll have to own up to it.

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