Bush Numbers Fall and the Press Grows a Backbone

I was thrilled to read a headline today: "Bush Teleconference with Soldiers Staged." No punches pulled, no euphemisms, just the plain, bold statement that his supposed conversation with troops was a propaganda event, reminiscent of his attempt this week to earn the hearts and minds of Americans by flying two big airplanes to New Orleans to drive nails while the Energy Hog was debuting to remind the rest of us to save energy. Rove must really be distracted to allow this kind of ham-fisted politics from his frat boy boss. His boss must be dismayed. The press is no longer resorting to pretty phrases and politically correct statements about the administration antics and his poll numbers continue to fall.

I'm sure it's true that the Administration doesn't pay attention to poll numbers. If I were in the Propagandist in Chief's position, I wouldn't want to know that my last month of photo ops and carefully staged compassion had only deepened America's disgust. An NPR report mentioned the poor response to Hurricane Katrina as a catalyst of what Americans had been feeling about this admininstration for some time. I have another hypothesis: Delay is under indictment, Frist is under SEC investigation, Rove and Libby are under some rather strong suspicion, Blount is associated with Delay's campaign finance mastermind, Bush's domestic agenda is dead and the Iraq lies are in the public consciousness. People are finally becoming disgusted at Republican rule, at having less while the likes of Gates and Buffett have more. It's about time.

I just hope my party has enough courage to put forth an agenda to right the wrongs of the past five years, that its members have enough sense to keep their collective noses clean and that we have the intelligence to select better candidates than we have the last few rounds. Forty eight percent of Americans would prefer to see Democrats in power. Seven in ten would prefer different policies from the next administration. We have an opportunity here. Some direction from Democratic leadership would be nice.