NOW they wake up

Another bad poll for BushCo:

On almost every key measure of presidential character and performance, the survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls.

[snip]

...Bush has always retained majority support on his handling of the U.S. campaign against terrorism -- until now, when 51 percent have registered disapproval.

The CIA leak case has apparently contributed to a withering decline in how Americans view Bush personally. The survey found that 40 percent now view him as honest and trustworthy -- a 13 percentage point drop in the past 18 months. Nearly 6 in 10 -- 58 percent -- said they have doubts about Bush's honesty, the first time in his presidency that more than half the country has questioned his personal integrity.

The indictment Friday of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, in the CIA leak case added to the burden of an administration already reeling from a failed Supreme Court nomination, public dissatisfaction with the economy and continued bloodshed in Iraq. According to the survey, 52 percent say the charges against Libby signal the presence of deeper ethical wrongdoing in the administration. Half believe White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, the president's top political hand, also did something wrong in the case -- about 6 in 10 say Rove should resign.

Beyond the leak case, Americans give the administration low scores on ethics, according to the survey, with 67 percent rating the administration negatively on handling ethical matters, while just 32 percent give the administration positive marks. Four in 10 -- 43 percent -- say the level of ethics and honesty in the federal government has fallen during Bush's presidency, while 17 percent say it has risen.

Faced with its cascade of recent setbacks, the White House is hoping the latest court nomination can rally disaffected conservatives and score the president a victory akin to the one he enjoyed in the nomination of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Alito begins the confirmation process with the support of 49 percent of the public, while 29 percent say he should not be confirmed, the poll found. One in 5 Americans -- 22 percent -- did not yet know enough about him to make a judgment.

The dissatisfaction with Bush flows in part out of broad concerns about the overall direction of the country. Nearly 7 in 10 -- 68 percent -- believe the country is seriously off course, while only 30 percent are optimistic, the lowest level in more than nine years. Only 3 in 10 express high levels of confidence in Bush, while half say they have little or no confidence in this administration.

Just 35 percent of those surveyed rated the economy as either excellent or good, with 65 percent describing it as not so good or poor. Although the government reported last week that gross domestic product rose 3.8 percent in the last quarter, despite the effects of Hurricane Katrina, 29 percent of those surveyed said they regard the economy as poor, the highest recorded during Bush's presidency.

These results indicate that people are starting to believe their own lyin' eyes, instead of what the Administration tells them. The most telling proof of this is in their skepticism about the government's GDP numbers. These numbers are meaningless at a time when middle-class Americans are being squeezed by escalating fuel costs, escalating health care costs combined with diminished availability of insurance, and job insecurity in the face of downsizing and outsourcing. Corporations may be making huge profits, and their executives may be taking home huge compensation packages, but the individuals who are not in the executive suite are feeling that these profits and executive compensation packages are being made at their expense -- and they're right.

The Bush agenda has ALWAYS been about the demolition of the middle class, pushing the middle class down into poverty so they can't demand anything of the "haves and the have-mores". It's just a shame that so many people bought into the bullshit until it was too late.

But if the Democrats think they're going to make hay out of this, they'd better guess again. People may be disgusted with Republican leadership, but there is an overall perception that BOTH parties are hopelessly corrupt, that NEITHER party represents people like them, and that they're all feeding at the corporate trough. When Democrats like Joe Biden vote for the kind of bankruptcy reform we've seen this year, it gives that notion credence. There is a general cynicism, a malaise if you want to get all Jimmy Carterish, among the population right now. We have a corrupt and now wounded President who may very well be either medicated or drinking, and is probably tempted to chuck it all and go back to the ranch, the way he's bailed out of everything else he's done. We have an even more corrupt Vice-President, whom is now hated by eight out of every 10 Americans, who doesn't even try to hide his venality and greed, and who feels completely unaccountable. And meanwhile, the dying goes on in Iraq with no end in sight. And we have no credible opposition party.

I've never seen my country in this bad a state, and I lived through the Nixon years. There's nothing for anyone to be happy about here, because we as a country are in deep shit -- and the clues were all there in the summer of 2004, if only people had thought to pay attention.