That 70-80% approval rating means absolutely NOTHING to Dashhole. The Dems have decided the best strategy is to mouth support for the WOT while blocking every move the administration makes. They have only one arrow in their quiver and that is control of Senate committees. The media only shows the "bi-partisan" cooperation shown before the cameras. The reality is only seen on C-span when the votes are taken and the nominees for any position are routinely discarded like so much morning trash. That is why control of the Senate is so damned important. The issue is not a rino, the issue is who chairs the committees. That is the issue, if we have to suffer a rino to get Fred Thompson as chair of a senate committee then so be it.
Tex, the Democrats are lockstep right now ... they don't have a "maverick" contingent like Lott and Hastert have had to manage the last 6 years. Lott has had 4-6 Senators who would cross party lines with no hesitation if their social liberal ideology was not accounted for. The Senate has 43 solid Conservatives in their caucus. The House has approximately 170 (out of 220) solid Conservatives. These are guys who would vote for 95% of everything "conservative" malcontents here on FR desire. These are the "Contract With America bunch". The Democrats have 0 in the Senate. They have about 3 in the House. Yet, it is not the Dems or the GOP 15%ers that are the problem, it's Bush, the GOP ... "THERE's NO DIFFERENCE". How do you craft a honest debate with folks who are that myopic about the world as it exists, and in which Bush and the GOP are fated to govern?
The guy I can't figure is Zell Miller. How can this guy, in good conscience, abide the tactics and malfeasance that the Senate Majority is conducting right now? He's an untouchable, he's a former Governor and multi millionaire and an Old southern Democrat ... how can he sit and watch Daschele and Leahy shirk their duty to get Federal Judgeships filled in Districts that are drowning in backlog?
Bush needs to sit down with Zell and hold a reality check pow-wow. Miller doesn't belong in the Democrat Party. Nor does Breaux, but he can't fight that Moriel Mafia and keep his job. Miller needs to switch parties, and get the process moving for the American people. Zell isn't there to sit on his ass for six years - he's got everything he needs in life already.