For the 1st Time Since 9/11, More Americans Trust Democrats on National Security

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 3:06pm

Snippet from the latest Rasmussen Reports poll:

From a political perspective, President Bush's national security credentials have clearly been tarnished due to the outcry over this issue. For the first time ever, Americans have a slight preference for Democrats in Congress over the President on national security issues. Forty-three percent (43%) say they trust the Democrats more on this issue today while 41% prefer the President.
Just 17% Favor Dubai Ports Deal

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 3:11pm

rasmussen's fun. just like this more recent poll that has the gop still beating the dems on national security. snippet:

forty-three percent (43%) of americans say they generally trust republicans more than democrats on national security issues while 38% place more trust in the Democrats. that five point advantage for generic republicans is fairly modest, but is better than the numbers the president has mustered.

damn shame dubya's not on the ballot in november.
national security

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:00pm

Lots of fun. Like this:

===

Forty-two percent (42%) of American adults now approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President.

The number who disapprove bounced up to 57% today, matching the highest level we've ever recorded.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:24pm

And according to the new Gallup poll:

Bush has a 41% disapproval among conservatives--all of them except you, apparently.

And there is a 16 point lead for Democrats on their generic congressional ballot.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:28pm

i warned ya about those generic congressional polls. they don't factor in the areas in which the elections will actually be held so it's kinda like saying bush has an 85% disapproval rating in nyc will be a factor in the fall. ready to put your money where your mouth is about the fall?

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:30pm

When are you two going to quit arguing over who has the bigger poll?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:32pm

Yes but the poor Republicans in the White House are too tired to win.

===

Senior White House Staff May Be Wearing Down

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 13, 2006; A04

Andrew H. Card Jr. wakes at 4:20 in the morning, shows up at the White House an hour or so later, convenes his senior staff at 7:30 and then proceeds to a blur of other meetings that do not let up until long after the sun sets. He gets home at 9 or 10 at night and sometimes fields phone calls until 11 p.m. Then he gets up and does it all over again.

Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles. Like chief of staff Card, many of the president's top aides have been by his side nonstop for more than five years, not including the first campaign, recount and transition. This is a White House, according to insiders, that is physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks.

"By the time you get to year six, there's never a break . . . and you get tired," said Ed Rollins, who served five years in President Ronald Reagan's White House. "There's always a crisis. It wears you down. This has been a White House that hasn't really had much change at all. There is a fatigue factor that builds up. You sometimes don't see the crisis approaching. You're not as on guard as you once were."

To Rollins, the uproar over an Arab-owned firm taking over management of some American ports represents a classic example. Bush and his staff did not know about the arrangement approved by his administration, and after congressional Republicans revolted, issued an ineffective veto threat that only exacerbated the dispute, which climaxed with the collapse of the deal last week. "This White House would not have made this mistake two years ago," Rollins said.

Bush's problems go beyond the fatigue factor. An unpopular foreign war, high energy prices and the nation's worst natural disaster in decades have dragged his poll ratings down to the lowest level of any second-term president, other than Richard M. Nixon, in the last half-century. Lately it seems to many in the White House that they cannot catch a break -- insurgents blow up a holy shrine in Iraq, tipping the country toward civil war; Vice President Cheney accidentally shoots a hunting partner; a former top Bush adviser is arrested on theft charges.

But at a time when Bush needs his staff to be sharp to help steer past these political shoals and find ways to turn things around, he still has the same core group working since he turned his sights toward the White House. That group includes Card, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, senior adviser Michael J. Gerson, counselor Dan Bartlett, budget director Joshua B. Bolten, press secretary Scott McClellan and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.

The succession of crisis after crisis has taken its toll. Some in the White House sound frazzled. While there are few stories of aides nodding off in meetings, some duck outside during the day so the fresh air will wake them up. "We're all burned out," said one White House official who did not want to be named for fear of angering superiors. "People are just tired."
Senior White House Staff May Be Wearing Down

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:35pm

yawn.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:38pm

And as for betting on Diebold-controlled elections, Sky Masterson said it best:

SKY: When I was a young man about to go out into the world, my father says to me a very valuable thing. He says to me like this: "Son," the old guy says, "I am sorry that I am not able to bankroll you to a very large start, but not having any potatoes to give you I am now going to stake you to some very valuable advice: One of these days in your travels a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you stand there you are going to wind up with an earful of cider."

Updated On: 3/13/06 at 04:38 PM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:42pm

so, you're acknowledging now that the dems will not gain control of either house of congress and that the elections themselves are just a formality in which the gops computers will eliminate all competition? and people say i'm cynical...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:43pm

I never acknowledge anything you say. I barely read it.

Updated On: 3/13/06 at 04:43 PM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:45pm

thanks, pj, that's the best laugh i've had all day.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:54pm

I laughed as well.

Do you honestly think when you begin one of those ridiculous sentences with "So what you're saying is..." that any of us are smite our foreheads and say you've convinced us?

Your time would be better spent on the Main Board trying to convince the kids that My Fair Lady is better than Wicked.

Ain't gonna happen in these political threads. Don't know why you even bother.

Updated On: 3/13/06 at 04:54 PM

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 4:55pm

When are you two going to quit arguing over who has the bigger poll?

Now, that is funny!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 5:09pm

i'm not trying to convince you. just enjoy pointing out that the folly of zealotry sits on both sides of the pendulum. who knows, maybe one of these days you'll realize just how terribly misguided you are and convert to a reality based practice of politics. i'll be happy to have had a part in bringing you into a world away from the hatred and anger in which you seem so happy to dwell. my little gift to the world.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 5:41pm

Yawn.