http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4253596/ Poll: Public’s trust in Bush at low ebb President trails John Kerry by 8 percentage points The Associated Press Updated: 8:24 p.m._ET Feb. 12, 2004 WASHINGTON - The public’s trust in President Bush is at the lowest point of his presidency, with about half of those surveyed saying he is honest and trustworthy and almost that many saying he is not, according to a poll released Thursday. The ABC News-Washington Post poll found that 52 percent felt Bush was trustworthy, while 42 percent did not. The poll found public support for the war in Iraq slipping, and people were about evenly split on whether they approve of the job he is doing as president or not. For the first time in this poll, support for the war dipped just below half, 48 percent, with an equal share, 50 percent, saying it was not worth fighting. More than half in the poll, 54 percent, said that the Bush administration intentionally exaggerated the threat from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but more of that group says administration officials exaggerated the threat than said they lied. The poll highlighted Bush’s vulnerabilities after a month dominated by the Democratic presidential campaign and an admission by administration officials that banned weapons may not be found in Iraq. Job approval drops after Kay disclosure A tracking poll by the National Annenberg Election Survey found that Bush’s overall job approval dropped sharply in late January after David Kay, the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, said he did not think those weapons existed. More than half in the poll, 54 percent, said that the Bush administration intentionally exaggerated the threat from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In a matchup with Democratic front-runner John Kerry, Bush trailed the Massachusetts senator by 51 percent to 43 percent. The public remains strongly supportive of Bush on his handling of the campaign against terrorism and his leadership skills — with six in 10 or more approving of him on terrorism and saying he is a strong leader. Almost half in the poll, 47 percent, said the economy has gotten worse while Bush was president — reflecting recent signs that consumers are growing more anxious about the economy. Only four in 10 said Bush understand the problems of people like them. The poll of 1,003 adults was taken Tuesday and Wednesday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
I always love it when politicians say "I don't pay attention to polls. Let the voters decide." Who do they think's being polled?
I would say... the people who are in the party not in power right now. They have the most to gain by activism. If your party is in power, why would you care? Or maybe not. Whatever.
I can't believe Bush's poll numbers are this high. Does roughly half the country really think he's honest and doing a good job. It's like living in the Matrix.
The first sign of a crack in the GOP's armor. Take a gander at who's House seat was just taken by a Democrat in the first Congressional election of this year. I love it. HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: National Feb. 17, 2004, 7:29PM Democrat takes GOP House seat Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Soundly defeated in last year's governor's race, former state attorney general Ben Chandler on Tuesday easily won the House seat of the man who beat him, ending a long Democratic losing streak in congressional special elections. Chandler, scion of one of Kentucky's most prominent political families, defeated Republican Alice Forgy Kerr. He will fill the remainder of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's term. With 100 percent of precincts counted, Chandler had 83,890 votes, or 55 percent. Kerr had 65,300, or 43 percent. A third-party candidate trailed. In the nation's first federal election of 2004, Chandler became the first Democrat since 1991 to win a Republican-held seat in a special election. The win leaves Republicans with a 228-205 majority in the House, with one vacancy and one independent.
That's awesome. The attempted blackmail by Hastert and the GOP was soundly rejected by the Kentucky voters. This is a good sign for the rest of the year as the public is already showing that they're not going to let the GOP scare them into casting their votes for the wrong person. Bring on November.
Wow! What a huge shift away from Bush. Fantastic to read. I would love it more in October, of course, but still... groovy!
I considered starting a thread about this, but I tend to back away from thread-starting. If anyone wishes to, feel free. This is big news. February 18, 2004 Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts By JAMES GLANZ The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, said in a statement issued today. The sweeping charges were later discussed in a conference call with some of the scientists that was organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent organization that focuses on technical issues and has often taken stands at odds with administration policy. The organization also issued a 37-page report today that it said detailed the accusations. Together, the two documents accuse the administration of repeatedly censoring and suppressing reports by its own scientists, stacking advisory committees with unqualified political appointees, disbanding government panels that provide unwanted advice, and refusing to seek any independent scientific expertise in some cases. "Other administrations have, on occasion, engaged in such practices, but not so systematically nor on so wide a front," the statement from the scientists said, adding that they believed the administration had "misrepresented scientific knowledge and misled the public about the implications of its policies." A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said today he had not seen the text of the scientists' accusations. "But I can assure you that this is an administration that makes decisions based on the best available science," he said. Dr. Kurt Gottfried, an emeritus professor of physics at Cornell University who signed the statement and spoke in the conference call, said the administration had "engaged in practices that are in conflict with the spirit of science and the scientific method." Dr. Gottfried asserted that what he called "the cavalier attitude toward science" could place at risk the basis for the nation's long-term prosperity, health and military prowess. The scientists denied that they had political motives in releasing the documents as the 2004 presidential race began to take clear shape, a day after Senator John Kerry won the Wisconsin Democratic primary and solidified his position as President Bush's likely opponent in the fall. The organization's report, Dr. Gottfried said, had taken a year to prepare — much longer than originally planned — and had been released as soon as it was ready. "I don't see it as a partisan issue at all," said Russell Train, who served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, and who spoke in the conference call in support of the statement. "If it becomes that way I think it's because the White House chooses to make it a partisan issue," Mr. Train said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/science/18CND-RESE.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
Hey! Check this out... Funny stuff! Each button has more than just one Bush phrase. Press each button until you cycle through all the phrases. Or, you can just run down the list on the side. http://www.praesentia.us/archives/dishonestdubya.html
I think this is a first - they actually backed down from a statement. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/18/elec04.prez.bush.jobs.ap/index.html White House downplays job predictions Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Posted: 2:01 PM EST (1901 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House backed away Wednesday from its own prediction that the economy will add 2.6 million new jobs before the end of this year, saying the forecast was the work of number-crunchers and that President Bush was not a statistician. White House press secretary Scott McClellan, asked repeatedly about the forecast, declined to embrace the prediction which was contained in the annual economic report of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Unemployment and the slow pace of job creation are political liabilities for Bush as he heads into a battle for re-election. Despite strong economic growth, the nation has lost about 2.2 million jobs since he became president. The jobs forecast was the second economic flap in recent days for the White House. Last week, Bush was forced to distance himself from White House economist N. Gregory Mankiw's assertion that the loss of U.S. jobs overseas has long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. Asked about the 2.6 million jobs forecast, McClellan said, "The president is interested in actual jobs being created rather than economic modeling." He quoted Bush as saying, "I'm not a statistician. I'm not a predictor." "We are interested in reality," McClellan said . . . Except when they are getting away with spinning it.
Here's another one. But I think I might have found this one from cc.net... http://flash.bushrecall.org/ Make sure you keep watching "Gollum W. Bush" sitting by the fence at the end of the movie.
