The public is waiting

August 31, 2005

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll offers more of the same data we’ve been seeing — surprise, surprise, Bush is still slipping badly in popularity — but there was one interesting tidbit of information for Dems worried about how forceful they should be in voicing concerns about the war in Iraq.

The survey also provided bad news for Democratic leaders, who are judged as offering Bush only tepid opposition. Slightly more than half of those surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with congressional Democrats for not opposing Bush more aggressively.

meek

Self-identified Democrats were particularly impatient. More than three in four said congressional Democrats have not gone far enough to oppose Bush on Iraq or on administration policies in general.

“Somebody needs to speak up,” said Michelle Burgess, 41, a home health aide in St. Louis. “Enough is enough. I don’t understand why we’re over there in Iraq or what he’s doing on other issues. There are too many lives being lost.”

Independents were similarly dissatisfied with Democratic leaders for not challenging the president over the war and other issues, with six in 10 saying Democrats have been too meek.

More than in one-in-five Republicans believe Dems need to be more forceful in opposing the war? That’s a lot more than I would have guessed.

That Feingold plan is looking better and better all the time. Not only for policy, but also for politics.

  • Democrats are not going to go further because they are scared shitless of doing anything which might rock what they think are still cozy boats. It’s expensive to run for office, and everyone who’s there has found a way to meet that expense. Why take a chance?

    If anyone not already in the political process (the poor, younger people) suddenly came to life politically (the draft, e.g.), then maybe the Dems would make an effort to represent them (as they did, years ago, for immigrants and for factory workers). Till then they seem to be happy being losers, GOP lite.

  • What’s astonishing is how many think Democrats
    have gone too far in opposing the war. I hate
    cliches, but what planet are these people living
    on? With few exceptions, the Democrats have
    embraced Bush’s policies from the time they
    originally authorized him to go to war to the
    present time, including the massive funding
    of it. Many not only don’t oppose it, but are
    calling on the president to escalate it.

  • The same poll shows 51% of Americans
    believe we’re winning the war in Iraq –
    whatever the hell “winning” means, or
    what the “war” actually is.

    No slide here in the war, but Bush’s
    approval rating dropped to 45%, the
    lowest in this poll.

    Cindy Sheehan has had no net effect on
    the opinion of Americans about the war.
    80% unchanged, 10% feel more strongly
    in favor of the war, 10% less strongly,
    as a result of her protest. So much for
    all the hype about her being the vanguard
    of a new movement I never bought it.

    I’m also more convinced more than ever that
    the dissastification with the war has to do
    with the fact that it’s not a blowout, not
    that we were wrong to wreck another
    country.

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