[Batrachian]

The Bush numbers will continue to go down if those jobs numbers don't turn around (they won't), and if things are perceived as going badly in Iraq. The news media is aggresively pushing the story of how bad things are in Iraq. I don't know the real story there, but I'm not very hopeful.

[nailspitter]

Their last poll had him at 68% if I remember correctly. That was five or six points above everyone else. Several polls out in the last few days have Bush at 60-61%. This is in line with those. I suspect their earlier poll was flawed. Not to worry.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" The Bush numbers will continue to go down if those jobs numbers don't turn around "

Last week,on Friday's NBC Nightly News, when Brian Williams was discussing the economy and President Bush,he showed black and white footage of hundreds of men on bread lines during the Depression. The equation was unmistakable.

[af_vet_rr]

The news media is aggresively pushing the story of how bad things are in Iraq. I don't know the real story there, but I'm not very hopeful.

Yep. For all the press-bashing we do (and they certainly deserve it), they aren't stupid. They saw how well Vietnam sold, how it got people to watch TV. Vietnam made many a career for many of our "elder" journalists today. Vietnam also got Richard Nixon elected to the Presidency.

If we are not careful, Iraq will get a liberal elected. I've seen people on FR basically say it's not a big deal if a few Americans die every week, if a dozen or so are wounded. Putting aside the fact that it is a big deal to the families of the dead and wounded, this is a big deal to the rest of America. If we hear our leaders talk about how we won the war, and how everything is alright, and five minutes later we are hearing about the latest attack on Americans, they will stop trusting the President and his cabinet, and with an election around the corner, that's a bad thing.

I'm not going to go into details, not just because of 'loose lips', but because some here on FR have family members in Iraq, but I'm hearing bad things from friends who are in Iraq. I don't think that it's my position to post them and so I won't. It has made me less optimistic than many.

Hopefully I won't be thought of as racist for saying this, but many in the Middle East understand violence and power and little else. We have shown too much compassion at times, and that can make us look weak in their eyes, and they get bold. The flip side - if we become even more aggressive (and we are very aggressive right now, even if it's not being reported), then they get pissed off and attack - either way, I am thankful I'm not in Iraq.

[kms61]

The high ratings are unsustainable over time...we knew they were going to come down. This is still a country divided pretty close to 50-50, and barring an event that the public rallies around, Bush's numbers in the long run will reflect that division.

None of these numbers will mean anything until the Democrats have a nominee to go head to head with the president. Unless the Dems self destruct and select somebody like Dean, it'll probably be another close election.