Posted on 04/12/2006 5:06:55 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
April 12, 2006
On a light news day, why not run a generic piece on President Bush's low poll numbers and his assertedly bleak prospects for reviving them? That was apparently the thinking at the Today show this morning.
Today themed the segment "Can Bush Save Presidency?", and NBC White House reporter Kelly O'Donnell seemed to answer the question in the negative, kicking things off with this gloomy assessment:
"For President Bush, low poll numbers have not just been a dip or temporary rough patch but appear now to be a sustained pattern that is different than his predecessors of both parties who went through their own tough times." She continued: "His . . presidency appears to have a chronic case of the below-40 percent blues."
After David Gergen was shown suggesting that "presidents have sometimes broken out of slumps when they've had big, bold initiatives and unexpected victories - that often shake things up" O'Donnell reappeared to dump cold water on the notion that W could have any such luck:
"Looking back, some second-term presidents have been able to rebound. President Reagan's approval fell to 34 percent with the arms-for-hostages scandal. Pres. Clinton hit 41 percent around impeachment. But both bounced back up to the 60s as they left office. Analysts say the prospects for Mr. Bush are not as good because of the weight of ongoing events: Iraq, gas prices, the CIA leak case and hurricane response."
Gergen popped back up to pessimistically proclaim: "After a while those negative feelings really do congeal, they crystallize, they become firm and then it's very hard to break out."
O'Donnell: "political observers claim big speeches and staff changes won't turn things around and suggest the president may have to wait to seize on any good news."
Commentator Stu Rothenberg then observed: "If there is something he can brag about he needs to quickly then be able to go to the American public and make his case and drive home the point. But for now he simply doesn't have much ammunition at his disposal."
Count on Today and its MSM cohorts to do their best to keep things that way.
Why am I not surprised
Exactly! Polls are scewed and getting worse. The President that governs by the polls is a moron like Clinton who put his finger in the wind. I want a man of conviction who believes in his heart he is doing the right thing for America. The one-issue folks on here can shove it because he is doing what is best for ALL Americans.
blah blah blah....
Don't quit your day job.
You really think the pollsters and the polls reflect what the people think?
I think the pollsters have an agenda and they word the polls and pick the people to ask to get the numbers they want. The people who believe them are being mislead same as the people who believe all the bad news in the media.
Wait 'til we nuke Iran ......... everything will be fine.
Yes! And we really appreciate it!
"Get a grip, the pollsters reflect what the people think & feel, not the pollsters personal beliefs and at this time many Americans are less than impressed with the way President Bush is steering the ship of state".
Hmmmmm....perhaps you are forgetting the 2004 Exit Polls that showed Kerry's sweeping victory (hahahahaha!!!)??
Proof positive that polls are worth poop.
This criticizes policies that are NOT conservative, NOT in the best interest of the working and middle classes here, but which ARE driving down Repub poll numbers..
Yeah, with poll numbers like that, his re-election bid is in trouble... What? He can't run again?
Oh. Never mind...
Dog --
It became a bash Bush thread the minute it went up -- doesn't take long as the same folks on here hit thread after thread bashing Bush even if it doesn't pertain.
They might as well change the name of Free Republic to 'Bash Bush' website which would better reflect some moronic postings I have been reading day after day and why I quit posting as much.
These anti-Bush types don't have a disagreement, they hate. Their comments are rude, nasty, and a lot of time outright lies which have to be debunked. This site is deteriorating rapidly with the posters that have always been anti-Bush except now they have been joined by their friends from the RATs and they get by with spamming every thread with their trash.
These folks are making it hard for a lot of posters who have been here for a long time to even want to come here. We used to have news from around the world and now it is becoming a site for the immigration nutcases (and yes I said nutcases) to gather. With some of the radical nutcase posts I have seen, it has made me become ashamed to be on the same site with these folks, but I hate to leave after all these years and leave it to these folks who just HATE. There is not rationale discussion about what needs to be done or even suggestions, but just pure HATE being spewed.
I have always been against giving citizenship to babies born here of immigrant parents. One of the problems I see is that some of here don't see the difference between immigrants and illegal and have tar and feathered anyone from Mexico. My best friend in Texas had roots to Mexico but her family was in the Hill Country of Texas before the Alamo and Texas became a State. My family came here in the 1600's as immigrants to this Great Land. This Country was built on the backs of immigrants from all corners of the Earth who came here seeking a better life for them and their families.
Some folks on here need to go back and read what happened about immigration under President Reagan, a man I greatly admire. Obviously some on here don't have a clue and have jumped on the bandwagon because they can freely bash Pres Bush and the Republicans in Congress. Some of you need to stop and really read some of these comments. There are many good people who happen to disagree on what should be done but their voices are drowned out by the continual spamming of the threads and driving people away.
We have Senators like Dr. Coburn who understand the problem and are trying to do something and yet they are attacked by the zealots on here. A lot of the zealots come from States that have two liberal Senators but you would never know from the posts where they tar and feather all the Senators including my two -- Coburn and Inhofe. Tells me they are here to disrupt this site, and split Republicans, and I give them credit -- they are accomplishing that on here.
Now some of us are faced with the decision -- do we stay and fight for a site that we have devoted hours to in order to inform people who read this about the truth or do we go away like so many other good posters.
Some of these most zealot folks spend all day on here -- who is paying their salary? This inquiring mind would like to know!
I have used the Bush ping list because I think the people on that list even if we disagree on immigration are willing to come up with a rationale discussion not just spamming every thread. We have a choice -- we can work together to weed out the people here to disrupt who have now attached themselves to the immigration issue or we can fade away.
There are good people on both sides of the immigration issue that need to be heard. Rounding up 11 million people and shipping them back to Mexico is not the answer. If the zealots would bother to read the figures, they would realize that all 11 million people here illegally did not all come from Mexico.
People better be more interested in the people who came here on student visas and stayed long after those visas expired -- those are the brains and much more dangerous then the people out cutting down cedar trees or working on roofs in 100 degree heat.
My two cents on this lovely Oklahoma morning and the birthday of my youngest daughter. Out to finish my shopping for her and enjoying the weather.
God Bless!
You seem to be letting your emotions run your mind. What folks don't seem to understand is that the problem has been growing for decades and the Congress put through a pretty much blanket amnesty about 20 years ago and has refused to fix any of the problems since then. Tolerance for illegals has become the defacto policy and the Prez understands this, which is why his stance is where it is. What many people want is like having a law on the books about not jaywalking, but letting folks jaywalk for years, then decide one day to arrest everyone who jaywalks and not only that, but while the original law had jaywalking as a misdemeanor, everyone aressted today gets charged with a felony. Blame the Congress then and now for refusing to allow the laws to be enforced, and refusing to enforce them now. Blame the Congress for allowing illegals to have the "right" to drivers licenses, medical, education, foodstamps, welfare, etc. The Prez didn't do it, and as any sane person should be able to see after the last week or so, the Congress is hell-bent on maintaining the status quo or loosening things up even more. Look at all the Dims going to the protests and signing up illegals for voting.
Open your eyes and understand four things.
- The Congress will not allow any substantial reform unless we get hit because of the open borders.
- The Dims would welcome that because they can do another flip-flop and suddenly recall how they were so against open borders (before they showed their real hand and want 100% amnesty).
- The Repubs in the Congress are just as base as the Dims in that they will not take a stand that allows some form of reform.
- The President cannot make the Congress do anything, they need to cooperate, but the Repubs won't support him any more than the Dims will on this.
Sure, I'll take that bet.
Just last week was the news that OBL was dead. Nothing happended. The guys been dead more times then Andrew Dice Clay.
As soon as Bush tells us OBL is dead, every democrat will be on the air saying this is a political move for the elections and within one news cycle, no one will know what Pres. Bush said and only know he just did a political stunt.
If 34% of the US is Dem, he will never get those - his numbers are down becuase he talks to his base like we are stupid telling us to allow foreigners to break the law and how he wants billions more for Iraq when we cannot get books for our schools or less expensive gas due to his failure in areas that should be simple to get throught with the power we gave him.
I am flumoxxed by the argument that it will delete Latino voters, if US limits illegal immigration. For the life of me, I can't imagine a person who has gone by the book being insulted by a country limiting illegal immigrants even if they are from their home country.
When chris got here; that's ALL chris has to offer; he's like a broken damn record. Nothing EVER positive; always negative. HE LIVES for it.
Frankly, most posters on FR are sick of it; vacuous little people who add nothing, just tear down everything.
And if it's not chris1, it's somebody else yapping about immigration -- and if you call them on it, they'll call you a FROBL or say you're not a "real, true" consevative.
They're driving people away from this site in droves; but that's okay -- that's what they want.
Thank you for posting that! I would say some folks would get a clue but with the immigration zealots, a lot of their purpose is to disrupt and some Freepers who proclaim to be independent thinkers go aright along. :(
Bush's low poll numbers reflect the opinions of many people who don't like his stand on immigration or spending. I'm sure there are many conservatives who didn't mind his Katrina actions but didn't like the money he planned to spend on cleaning up after Katrina. If Bush took a hard stand on illegal immigration, his numbers would jump by at least ten to fifteen percent.
any mention of MSM's poll numbers ?
I agree 100 percent.
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