Mr. Bush clearly faces constraints as he seeks to address the public concerns about Iraq that have shrouded this midterm election: 83 percent of respondents thought that Mr. Bush was either hiding something or mostly lying when he discussed how the war in Iraq was going.
Holy cow.
Only 17% of Americans believe El Presidente is telling the truth when he opens his pie hole about Iraq? The issue he staked his entire Presidency on and (in polling terms) virtually no one believes him?
I can't remember the last time a President had so little credibility with the electorate.
Oh, wait, yes I can.
What strikes me as a sad comment on human nature is that, according to the same poll, Bush has an approval rating of 34%. If you subtract the percentage of voters who still believe whatever El Presidente says about Iraq (or maybe they're just not engaged in current events one iota, those "low information" voters the Rethugs love?) from his approval percentage, you're left with 17%, exactly half that number, of Americans who seem okay with being lied to.
Is this America's "battered wife syndrome"? "Beat me, El Presidente, we can't do better."
If ever a nation was in need of deprogramming, the time is now.
2 comments:
The poll numbers right now are highlighting the amazing disparity between the views of the public at large and the establishment in Washington and the media. Being against the Iraq occupation is still framed as an "extreme left" position, and most Democratic politicians are unwilling to call Bush a liar.
Mark is right in saying that Diebold needs closer numbers to do its dirty work, but a bigger problem is the disdain for public opinion that is the basic stance of our moneyed elites.
Another huge problem is the purging of the voting rolls. While they shuld be kept up to date (in Chicago they used to say "Vote early, vote often!") as of late it's been used as a political tools for cutting down on Dem voters, i.e. in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004. Be on the lookout for stories about it this time around.
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