Bush More phoney then ever

by Jerome Armstrong, Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 06:05:33 AM EDT

Haha, you'd think they'd start rolling heads at somepoint here in the clueless administration. New SUSA tracking poll info:3 polling days after George W. Bush's prime-time speech to the nation from Jackson Square in New Orleans, a "can't win" dynamic is unfolding for the President, according to exclusive SurveyUSA data gathered Friday 9/16, Saturday 9/17 and Sunday 9/18. The number of Americans who now approve of the President's response to Hurricane Katrina is down: 40% today compared to 42% before he announced the Gulf Opportunity Zone. The number of Americans who disapprove of the President's response to Katrina is up: 56% today compared to 52% before the speech. Bush went from "Minus 10" on his Response to Katrina before the speech to "Minus 16" today.Karl Rove, Michael Gerson, Bob DeServi, Scott Sforza. Your phoney props fell flat.

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Lily Would Cry

See also MyDD Advertizer BAGnewsNotes for "Bush's N.O. Restart -- A Visual Report Card."

I guess we can call this "the Triumph of the Won't!"

by Paul Rosenberg 2005-09-19 06:18AM | 0 recs

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This is the best news of all...

are we finally draining support from the Independents. He probably lost a couple of points from Republicans who think people should stand on their own two feet, with no help from the Feds. But, those people aren't going to vote Democratic...ever.

Are we seeing, instead of the end of the Republican Party, the end of the Neocon movement? Might we see a return to Eisenhoweresque Republicanism?

by Robert P 2005-09-19 06:24AM | 0 recs

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Re: This is the best news of all...

Wow, would I be a lot happier with things if the neo-Cons lost their vise grip on the Republican party. There used to be some moderate Republican that I felt quite comfortable in supporting (the ones that the neo-Cons disparage as RINOs). Today, given the grip of Delay and his ilks on the party, as well as the so-called "Christian" Right, I've stopped splitting my ticket.

Of course, one of the main attractions (to me) of the old "Main Street" Republicans was their desire for fiscal responsibility. For the past twenty years, the Republicans have simply allowed the red ink to flow, flow, flow. They spend like drunken sailors! While they keep prattling on aobut "it's your money" when proffering tax cuts, they are also borrowing recklessly, which "you money" (and "your child's" and "your grandchild's" as well) will have to fund the debt servie for!

by BillCat 2005-09-19 07:01AM | 0 recs

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The best news - Conservatives Jump Ship

Billmon has two posts on the rock and hard place that are the squeezing Dubya. The Rassmussen report has this nugget:

http://billmon.org/archives/002163.html

While about half of those polled (including 66% of the liberals) favored Bush's spend-whatever-it-takes-and-more approach, conservatives are divided: 43% approve, only slightly higher than the 37% who oppose.

From an earlier post:

http://billmon.org/archives/002161.html

... if the debate is about whether to abandon the conservative fiction that 200 years of slavery and segregation have nothing to do with the plight of the black underclass, then a more significant course correction may be needed, if Rove still puts conservative unity above all else.

Large chunks of the religious right -- and many of the downscale Republican voters that Stan Greenberg has dubbed the "fuck you boys" -- have no fundamental beef with big government, public works or even with the welfare state, unless they suspect the benefits are flowing to the "undeserving," which in the lexicon of conservative populism can be regarded as a euphemism for "those people." What they favor (or at least, are willing to tolerate) is a variation on what used to be called "Afrikaner Socialism" -- the generous system of social and economic subsidies for working class whites that helped maintain Caucasian solidarity in apartheid South Africa.

It would seem that Lyndon Baines Bush isn't playing with the wing nut base.

by ck 2005-09-19 08:25AM | 0 recs

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Looking to '06

What comprises the Republican base at this point?
I have not seen many breakdowns of supporters.
The idea of this administration as a bunch of liars has gained much traction, but is the party as a whole bound to their coattails?
I would like to believe that specific demographics could be peeled off of the Republican Party base.
It's time for conservative coalitions to fracture over the effectiveness of the party at moving America forward and not ruining it in the process.
The Democrats had their "tax and spend / liberal" frame job, what's it going to be for the Republicans?

by leftofcenter 2005-09-19 07:04AM | 0 recs

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Borrow and waste ?

by Fifi 2005-09-19 01:45PM | 0 recs

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Katrina and Conservative Base

Here's my answers to the questions raised.

Poll Results: I think the drop in the numbers after Bush's speech reflects the fact that people who are already against Bush were not going to change their minds based on the speech, while some fiscal conservatives have now moved over to the disapproval column (these are still probably not Democratic voters for Congressional elections, but they may be persuaded not to vote Republican either).

Bush's base:

Biggest part - Religious conservatives. These people will not vote Democrat but may be persuaded not to vote Republican. Issues to work on with them - U.S. killing of innocents with bombs and formation of Islamic state in Iraq. They were lied to about Schiavo (she was unconscious and functionally brain dead).
Next biggest part - People who equate patriotism with feeling good about themselves and their country, and look for political leaders that make them feel good and emphasize U.S. superiority and specialness. Issues to work on: Bush has embarrassed the country with response to Katrina, repeated lies, torture of prisoners, fiscal crisis of govt., failure to support troops via adequate gear in Iraq and VA funding, etc.
Next biggest part - People who want less taxes on high income and investment class. Bush has been kind of good for this group, but Dems can emphasize that part of it is a shell game, because bills have been passed to future generations and to local state and property taxes and medical insurance costs.

by LastToKnow 2005-09-19 07:28AM | 0 recs

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Re: Katrina and Conservative Base

You are not going to win over the religious conservative on Schiavo. They probably think the coroner was a Democrat and lied on his final report. Nor are you going to win over the neo-rich that Bush has been so good to already. The arguement that future generations will pay dearly was made before the last election and they still voted for the idiot. They got to keep more, so screw everyone else.
You can and must win back the housewife and mother who thought Bush would keep her and her family safe. She now knows he will not. You must win back the somewhat religious middle class, blue collar white guy who hunts and fishes. He now knows how badly he was lied to about Iraq, the economy, and everything else.
And you've got to get the people of New Orleans and other such vulnerable areas who probably have never voted in their life.

by blogus 2005-09-19 08:28AM | 0 recs

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Re: Katrina and Conservative Base

I agree with what you say, but I think you are answering a different question. My answer was basically about what are the largest blocks that will probably vote for Bush-style Republicans in the '06 Congressional elections and what might be the best arguments to get them to stay home (that is what I understood the above question about the Republican base to be about), and your comment is a good summary of which groups could most easily have been turned from a Republican vote to a Democratic vote if the '04 Presidential election were held today. IMO, a lot of the Republican base has been so thoroughly immersed in anti-Democrat and anti-Liberal rhetoric for so long they are more likely to stay home on election day than to vote for a Democrat, especially in an off-year election. The discussion of the swing voter in the Presidential election who will vote for one candidate or another is a different issue.

by LastToKnow 2005-09-19 10:34AM | 0 recs

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Re: Katrina and Conservative Base

I agree!

by blogus 2005-09-19 10:44AM | 0 recs

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Re: Katrina and Conservative Base

Is there some Libertarian or Christian values party coming up through the ranks that is bright enough to draw voters away from the republicans? It really only needs to be as influential as the Independent or Green parties were at drawing off Democrats.

Religious conservatives have been spoon fed from their leaders to vote single issue - as though that would be our salvation. It is laterally a sin to vote democratic. Is there some way to implicate the religious leaders that advocate for Republicans in an effort to discredit them - since they do deserve it.

This is the group I am most concerned about - especially if it is considered the largest block of supporters. Do you think that Republicans' support for policies that lead to the death and injury of innocent lives, both here and abroad, is enough to make this block of voters look elsewhere?

by leftofcenter 2005-09-19 08:50AM | 0 recs

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Re: Katrina and Conservative Base

There is a small Libertarian and a small Christian party (called the Constitutional Party), but many voters turned off by Bush and not willing to vote Democrat might just not vote at all. I think it is important for Democrats to counter the long unopposed arguments that Republicans are the party of morality and patriotism (so people in favor of those things should vote Republican). I think it is easier to show the truth that Republicans are not moral (by any standard), and not patriotic in their actual actions (as opposed to their rhetoric), and not "good for the family" (which is a bigger real threat to familiers, gay marriage or the inability to support a family one one and maybe even two incomes?).

by LastToKnow 2005-09-19 10:41AM | 0 recs

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opportunity zone

"The Republican solution to poverty sounds incredibly similar to their solution for everything: cut taxes, torch regulation, annihilate wages, eliminate competition, and create top-heavy bureaucracies."

Back off, Sailor! My wet Gulf is not your "Opportunity Zone"
http://caveshadows.typepad.com/parrotcage/2005/09/my_gulf_is_not_.html

by deadalbatross 2005-09-19 07:31AM | 0 recs

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Sit back and enjoy the crash

Bushbag is begining to implode. He managed to piss off all sides of the political spectrim
Left: Removing the mimimum wage standard
Right: Unbridled,unfunded spending for Katrina, helping the Poor
Center: the Phoney disney style photo-op Speech.
Everybody else: The total out of character and unbelievable nature of his speech. Can anyone really believe Bushbag is capable of becoming a F.D.R or L.B.J. style Repiglican.

by eddieb 2005-09-19 08:00AM | 0 recs

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Re: Sit back and enjoy the crash

Yeah, watching the crash of the HindenBush is kinda like watching the old filmstrip of the destruction of the Nazi dirigible Hindenburg in reverse. In that one, the airship explodes and crashes and the newsreporter on the ground cries out about the passengers "... oh, the humanity, the humanity..." For Dubya and the posse, it was the media reporters on the ground in New Orleans first crying "...oh, the humanity, the humanity..." and the Bush blimp exploded and crashed. Thanks for conjuring up the image.

by VizierVic 2005-09-19 08:32AM | 0 recs

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This is completely nutty!

I'm hearing all over talk radio that Bush's poll numbers are bouncing back. It appears that the administration strategy is simply to overwhelm Media Matters for America's ability to track their lies. It's sort of like "Shock and Awe" except the enemy is the truth.

by nittacci 2005-09-19 09:21AM | 0 recs

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Re: This is completely nutty!

It's a sign of how desperate BushCo and the GOP are. Even with the US corporate media giving Bush every benefit of every doubt, he's now sunk down to his bedrock religio-racist base.

This is NOT what the Republicans were hoping to see going into the 2006 election season.

Now, all we need is for the Democrats as a whole to actually start acting like an opposition party instead of DINOs (yeah, Biden and Lieberman and all you damned MBNA-fellating Blue Dogs, I'm talkin' to YOU).

by Phoenix Woman 2005-09-19 09:33AM | 0 recs

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More props

I was just told that

the Arkansas National Guard and another state's unit were "deployed" to Atlanta and Birminham to sit in motels and be available only when Bush needed them for a back drop. They were pissed at having to be away from their families and not get to do any real work.

I would assume that only a few people were involved from these states. Of course this is second hand. So I don't know for certain but given other information such as the firefighters it seems plausible. Of course they also aren't going to publicize this. It takes this passing from family members on down for it to come out. Which of course makes it heresay. Nice little game they have goin'.

This same family friend tells a story of Jeb Bush trying to privatize health care in the prison system. This friend is a dentist in the prison system and said Jeb Bush was going to have a test of his theory that private health care would be cheaper for the state. The test was conducted in southern Florida prisons and was failing miserably to meet expectations. So they moved all the truly sick prisoners into the northern prison system. It apparently leaked at some point but I don't recall it really getting much attention. The dentist was complaining because of the sharp rise in his workload.

These guys aren't simply into photo ops, they will falsify anything to justify their theories.

by jrflorida 2005-09-19 09:28AM | 0 recs

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Rove's Magic

Is Cardinal Karl Richilieu running out of rabbits to pull out of his Mitre?

by Docsilver 2005-09-19 09:46AM | 0 recs

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How Much Did the Speech Cost?

Someone should find out how much the speech cost.

Why did he have to set up an elaborate Hollywood set in New Orleans when he could have just rolled some cameras into the Oval Office, the way presidents used to do it.

Seems like a lot of taxpayers' money is being spent on the political rehabilitation project.

by Mister Go 2005-09-19 09:58AM | 0 recs

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Re: How Much Did the Speech Cost?

This is where all the money went for the levee. Consider the overall cost of propoganda over the past five years. These things are planned out, people are vetted, security, props are moved and housed across the country (from men, lights, cameras, banners) etc. It can't be cheap.

by jrflorida 2005-09-19 10:33AM | 0 recs

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They are writing off '08

Bush and his sycophants know they have 3 years to plunder the treasury and dump through as much right-wing legislation as they can get away with, before they are booted out in '08, only to take million dollar "consulting" jobs in the private sector (ie, companies they fed taxpayer money to). By 2010, they will be back strong for another round of pludering, with the American people, who have memories like those of a goldfish, believing that the liberals caused all the problems in the first place. Bush doesn't care about polls and popularity anymore. He has won reelection. They are in "take whatever we can get" mode.

by steve expat 2005-09-19 12:03PM | 0 recs

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Gallup Poll

Out today, has devastating news for Bush:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/19/bush.poll/index.html

Job Approval:
40% (was 46% 9/8 - 9/11)
58% Disapprove

Provides support for the SUSA data that the speech HURT Bush.

Even worse are the numbers are Iraq:

"support for his management of the war in Iraq has dropped to 32 percent, with 67 percent telling pollsters they disapproved of how Bush is prosecuting the conflict.

The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake, 63 percent said they wanted to see some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country and 54 percent told pollsters they favor cutting spending on the war to pay for disaster relief.

Just 35 percent of those polled approved of Bush's handling of the economy, with 63 percent saying they disapproved."

by fladem 2005-09-19 12:10PM | 0 recs