Posted on 06/27/2006 6:00:39 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
June 27, 2006
The Seer of MSNBC hath spoken: no matter how good the news might be now for President Bush, he will be in worse shape come the November elections.
That was Chris Matthews' reading of the entrails on this morning's Today show. Guest-hosting David Gregory interviewed him, and, sounding the same theme we saw over at this morning's Early Show, cast the controversy over the latest leak of an anti-terror program not as a threat to national security, but as "this attack on the New York Times."
Gregory teed up this softball for Matthews: "The question is, whether should we be taking their [the administration's] word for it, that these are legal programs? Do you think the administration, any administration, has earned the right . . . to protect that kind of secret?"
Matthews was happy to take the hint: "Not this one. I think that's a fair charge."
Gregory then, interestingly, laid out a rosy scenario for the administration: "A new poll out from the Washington Post indicates Bush is gaining ground back on Democrats in terms of handling the war. There's the plan by General Casey talking about drawing down troops by the end of the year, more by the end of next year. Insurgents, according to the New York Times, talking to the new Iraqi government. Indications of some better news for this administration on the war."
That's when Chris went into his Cassandra impersonation.
"As long as we're in that war, and this has been shown in all the statistics, if you just look at the pattern since 9-11 or since we went into that war in Iraq, the president's numbers have come down serially. In other words there's been a trend line through all the static, up and down. Like this week it went up a bit, next week it will go down a bit. But the trend line has been about a 45-degree drop in the president's support since 9-11. That is unrelenting that progress in going downward for the president. So no matter how good the news is this June, by November you can predict based upon trends that have continued relentlessly since 9-11, the president will be in worse shape when the voters go to the polls in November."
Matthews needs to brush up on his Newtonian laws of inertia. He got the first part right: 'a body in motion tends to stay in motion.' But Chris forgot the qualifier: 'unless an outside force acts upon them.'
Today Show/NewsBusters Bush-must-go-down ping.
Libs interviewing each other. Laughable.
Yeah..NO ATTACKS ON AMERICAN SOIL!
These people live and die by "polls".....and don't see the danger all around them, only poll numbers.
Chrissy is batting, what, 1 for 452 this year?
and I predict & hope for a worse demise for Chris Matthews than the crap that was dished out to Dan "Bogus Documents" Rather.
I always get a laugh when media people interview other media people and call it news.
I think Chris is confusing his trendlines: he's describing his own Neilsen Ratings... of maybe it's the NYT's circulation... or the NYT's stock price... That's the trendline Chris is describing.
I salute you for being able to watch these insidious creeps everyday. I really don't know how you do it!
How did your interview go yesterday, btw. Is there a post about it? Got a link?
It would be interesting to see a discussion among those two about normalizing the time axis and predicting when Bush's approval drops below zero.
Then shouldn't it be at about -150%??? Pure drivel.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I must have missed something. I wasn't aware Bush was running this November. No doubt that on January 21, 2009, all these liberal clowns will crow that they finally brought Bush down! Just like the rooster and the sunrise.
Who is polling the pollsters? Are there Checks and balances in the polling system.... I think the questions the pollsters are asking are biased and intended to shed bad light on the President. i.e., Do you thing the President chould be doing a better job in handling Iraq? That is a leading question and of course most rational people including his supporters would agree that things are not going great and changes could probably be made I think the media is in cahoots with these polling numbers..
I don't believe in them.
Did Gregory conduct the interview in French?
As per Hissy Chrissy, the only think heading down for certain has been his viewership numbers.
Matthews interviewed by Gregory.... the term 'circle jerk' comes to mind.....
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