...the Journal noted, the poll was not all good news for Democrats: at just 23 percent, the approval rating for the Democrat-led Congress is lower than Bush's.

Well-deserved too, I might add.

29% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing, remarkable, what exactly does it take for common sense and rationality to prevail, or how about some humanity? The article indicates the 29% being low, too high I say, especially for this evil criminal.

Further some would replace him with Giuliani, there is no hope for the world.

This is not news.

The news would be if he cared about poll and if his low rating made a difference.

Otherwise it is a waste of resources to bother anybody with this non-news item,

So--we don't find out till the end of the miserable little piece that Hillary and Rudy are the hypothetical favorites for the major party nominations. What a waste! A plague on both their political houses. Kucinich or Nader or Green in 08.

Why haven't any of the countries Bush has visited this week arrested him for war crimes?

RE: LOW RIGHT WING NUMBERS:

Good point from curmudgeon99 - it doesn't matter a lot. As he posted:
curmudgeon99 June 14th, 2007 12:47 pm
"The news would be if he cared about poll and if his low rating made a difference."

Why is it p*ss-poor consolation?

Because - in the greater right wing framework - the Cheney shadow government has done its job: lied the country into an invasion, squandered federal resources on guns, and exploited its patriotic-hysteria ratings to ram through right wing domestic legislation.

The blowback of low ratings now won't reverse this.

29% of right wing Americans have the fucking money thats what thats all about

Dave Rabbitt:
I think you're only partially right. Personally I think that the majority of that 29% crowd just think in terms of sports teams.

It's like this, they see themselves as being fans (even team members) of their party, and they support their team right or wrong, else they'd be the anathema 'fair weather fan'. That's it. That's as far as any thought on the matter takes them, they must root for their team at all costs.

What they fail to realize is that (just as in real profession sports) the people actually in charge of the team couldn't care less about them, other than requiring their loyalty (and cash, for white-soldier-fake-jesus' sake don't forget the cash).

Makes me feel ill when I think about it.

If the 61% who think Bush is doing a poor job petitioned the congress for his impeachment, would congress be required to act?

I think if a President is as hated as this one is and has less than 30% approval rating they should automatically be FIRED!!!!!

We have 70% of the people and seemingly no representation for us. Our congressman are bought for a few million before the elections and then we the citizen's are reemed for billions. It must end.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/14/1879/

this article on mike evans partially explains why w. is still at 29%. there are some hardcore whackos out there, lots in fact. they hear that w. prays, and that's good nuff for them.

Unbelievable. And still the Dems can't stop him.

We have to keep in mind that people are really just upset about the price of gas. We kid ourselves when we think most people read and pay attention to issues. I'll bet that if interest rates and gas prices went down, he would gain popularity. Granted, the Iraq war is unpopular but that's because we haven't "won", not because it was wrong in the first place. The only way to get people to really get worked up about this war is to draft them or get them to start paying for it with new taxes. Obviously, I would prefer see us try the new taxes first.

We can all sit around with our ability to read and discuss things beyond the sixth grade level, but to make a change we'll have to draft or tax. Daddy was right, "It's the Economy, Stupid."

dmgreenaz June 14th, 2007 5:00 pm
Yes, you are absolutely right. In addition, the only way to get the American sheep involved in the political process is to hurt them financially. Affluence has made our population apathetic. As long as Bubba can afford the payments on his 4-by and a half rack of generic light to take home to watch Survivor "it's all good". The sooner we go broke, the better.

Neomunk: Good points. I see a direct corelation between sports fans and political team branding, too. IMAGINE what the percentage would be (can they calculate a MINUS number?) if members of the 29% contingent actually KNEW what was going on in this nation, and abroad in their name???? This is a number based on those ensconced in a cocoon of fraud perpetrated by ignorance, religious delusion, media hypnotic indoctrination, and other programming devices, like the lie told often enough being perceived as true.

I am quite sure that a large number of countries would like to arrest bushie for war crimes. Unfortunately they'll have to wait until he's out of office, heads of state have some form of immunity while in office. After (if) he leaves office, bushie will never again leave the USA.

Bush has one compensation: he's huge in Albania. Perhaps the Bush library can be built there.

Bush has access to several possible sites in South America, the Middle East and Central Europe, but that's not really important. Bush is the lamest of ducks.

What's important is that it will be a sad day if the best this country can offer its citizens is a choice between Clinton and Giuliani. Clinton is for the war, for WTO, and against single payer national health care. What inspiring ideals.

Ever since Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected, Democrats have tried to compromise and get by and appeal to the middle and be adaptable and have it both ways and Republicans have stuck to their guns and gone to the bank on the strength of their battle call; no retreat, no surrender.

good one weiji
But seriously folks, there is a way we can begin to create real change, support public financing of elections. Then we can elect representatives who are not bought out by the corporations and would therefore act on our behalf. Jim Higtower has several good articles on his site on this topic. Public financing would also create a greater posssibility for third party canidates to get elected. The other good thing about public financing is it may be an issue that people of all political stripes will support like Net Neutrality. The first priority of a congress that really represents the people would be to make laws that cut back on the power of corporations like their right of personhood and off shore tax havens. Corporate greed is the greatest force behind injustice and planetary destruction, Bush and Co. are merely their well paid proxies and propagandists.

"Why haven't any of the countries Bush has visited this week arrested him for war crimes?"

because you'd nuke 'em if they did, the American people are the only ones that can stop this evil government, if anyone else tried we would end up with another World War, this time you're the Nazis.

dubya's base is like 2% of the population, so at 29% he is kickin' ass. sad though.

I'd say about 29% of Americans fit into the "Authoritarian" category. These people would really rather live in a monarchy than a democracy, even though they bleat continuously about "freedom". It's a mentality that the rest of us left behind... when exactly was the Renaissance? About 400 years ago?

This is why such people laud the war in Iraq. Thier view has nothing to do with whether the war is legal, moral, or even warranted. It's all about who can kick whose ass, which for an authoritarian is the crux of any matter. Any argument about legitimacy, morality, or even practicality is wasted, because it does not connect with what is meaningful to them.

War in Iraq? Bring 'em on! Torture? Domestic spying? People disappearing? All part of the "war on terror". Lies about public policy? Government secrecy? Cronyism? Perogatives of the Unitary Executive. Liberal weenies? These people question authority, and are therefore the lowest of the low -- beneath contempt.

If you really want to get throught to that 29%, you'd be better off dragging them out to the parking lot and giving them a thrashing they'd remember. You know, something they can connect with...

Idavin,

Re: the American people are the only ones that can stop this evil government.

What we're seeing is the American people being in approximately the same position as were the "good Germans" in the 1930's. Bush is renown for ignoring his approval ratings. This is only good up to a point. When those ratings hit 29%, one would think that Bush would start asking himself why, but Bush is also renown for not being especially curious... In effect, Bush believes that he is above "the people", and that their concerns are of no great importance.

The 22% congressional approval rating is disturbing but understandable. They also believe thet they are above "the people", as evidenced by their performance since January. In short, their 22% approval rating stems from the fact that Republicans do not approve of Congress simply because it is under Democratic "control", and Democrats don't approve because, as it turns out, a lot of those Democrats turned out to be Democrats in name only. When it comes to the vote -- such as the vote to give Bush another $100+ billion to finance his conquests, or a 30% increase in funding for "abstinence-only" sex education programs -- it appears that they're really Republicans in Democrat clothing.

But, as in the case of the President's dismal approval rating, so what? Congress knows full well that the next "election" will present to the American people with yet another choice between the lesser of the evils, so why worry? Under such circumstances, the incumbent almost always wins. Therefore, they're virtually beyond recall. They have much more to fear from offending their corporate sponsors and from voting machinery hacks than they do from discontent among their "constituents", so who cares about approval ratings?

So how exactly do you propose that "we the people" stop this "evil government"? We have two branches that have shown themselves to be immune to public sentiment. The names and faces may change, but the agenda rolls on. The third branch is appointed for life, and seven of the nine were put there by the current administration or former administrations of the same stripe. We'd love to throw the bums out, but the last time we did that -- last November -- has had no noticable impact on the operation of our government.

One wonders whether, in some future time, historians will debate why the "good Americans" -- like the "good Germans" -- were unable to halt the march toward Fascism, and the ultimate destruction of our country.