‘His mouth is his own worst enemy’
When Bill Clinton was president, White House aides had a policy: when there was political trouble, and public support was on the wane, put the boss in front of people. Schedule a speech in front of a large audience; arrange for some high-profile television interviews, put together some kind of major White House event, etc. Clinton aides knew that the solution to most problems was letting Clinton talk to Americans.
Invariably, the strategy worked. As it turns out, the Bush White House has embraced the exact same approach. Unfortunately for the Bush gang, it’s not nearly as effective.
Democrats appear to be standing on firm political ground, as they work toward a final bill. A Washington Post-ABC News poll of 1,141 adults, conducted April 12-15, found that 58 percent trusted the Democrats in Congress to do a better job handling the situation in Iraq, compared with 33 percent who trusted Bush.
The president has taken advantage of Congress’s spring recess to pound Democrats over their legislation, which would impose benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet; create strict rules for resting, equipping and training combat troops; and set a 2008 date for the final withdrawal of U.S. troops. Despite those efforts, Bush has lost a little ground to Democrats, who in February were trusted by 54 percent to set Iraq policy. […]
Bush continued yesterday to say that victory in Iraq is pivotal to the larger fight against terrorism, but Americans are increasingly agreeing with the Democratic view that the issues are separate. About 57 percent now say the United States can succeed in the terrorism fight without winning the Iraq war, an increase of 10 percentage points since January, when Americans were almost evenly divided on the question.
The number of Americans who favor withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq, even if that means civil order is not restored, held steady from February at 56 percent.
Consider the context for these poll results. For the last several weeks, Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the gang have been hammering Dems relentlessly, insisting that they’re endangering the troops and pursuing an irresponsible foreign policy. Administration officials have fanned out across the media to drive the argument home.
And against this backdrop, Americans have heard Bush’s pitch and said, “We don’t believe you.”
In other words, the White House strategy has largely backfired. The idea was to let Americans hear from their president directly, and let him persuade the electorate to his way of thinking. But after weeks of a p.r. offensive, we’re just not buying what the White House is selling.
As Kevin Drum put it, “This reminds me of the Social Security fiasco: every time Bush opened his mouth on the subject, polls moved in the opposite direction. Now the same thing is happening with Iraq. If he had any brains, he’d just shut up and try to ride it out. His mouth is his own worst enemy.”
It amazes me that, after all this time, White House officials still don’t appreciate just how unpopular Bush really is. Putting an inarticulate president in front of the cameras, encouraging him to bash the hell out of his more popular rivals, just doesn’t work. The more the electorate sees of him, the more voters reject what he has to say.
Indeed, look at the some of these results from the Post/ABC poll.
* After weeks of relentless criticism, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s approval rating is up to 53%, a point Newt Gingrich never reached.
* Congress’ approval rating is at a four-year high.
* 54% of Americans approve of the way Democrats in Congress are doing their job (the highest in over a decade). Only 39% say they approve of congressional Republicans.
* 58% believe Dems in Congress are taking a stronger leadership role in the government than Bush.
The more the Bush gang condemn congressional Democrats, question their patriotism, and denounce their policies, the stronger Dems become.
If we’re really lucky, the president will hammer Dems every day for the indefinite future.
The Bushies don’t get that by attacking Dems as they have always have they are now also impugning the views of the majority of the American public. By berating people that hold the majority view, Bush is painting his views into a corner of an increasingly unpopular perpective. Bush must be absolutely preplexed at the lack of loyalty shown him by his former base. After all, his loyal White House Bushies still follow his bidding no matter what.
The more the electorate sees of him, the more voters reject what he has to say.
If memory serves me right, except for spikes after 9/11, the start of the Gulf War and maybe one or two other major events, Bush’s poll numbers always trended downward.
Simply put, as much as the press tried to sell Bush as a likeable person, the American public never really bought it. And now they uncontestably don’t trust him — and his credibility is never, ever coming back.
The press needs to wake up and realize this fact, and treat Bush’s bullshit with the proper skepticism. The wingnuts will howl, but all their sound and fury can’t make a lie into the truth.
Bush continued yesterday to say that victory in Iraq is pivotal to the larger fight against terrorism
Iraq is in the middle of a civil war. Here’s what I’d ask Bush: “At what point during the American Civil War was Great Britain (or France) able to declare victory?” That question makes about as much sense as Bush does.
Two points…
1: None of this really matters. This is the Administration that is committed to creating its own reality, remember? If they can stand Bush in front of a bunch of military personnel and/or their families, use them as props, and they applaud the man because they respect the office if not the man, then every conservative pundit will jump in front of the ol’ loberal media’s cameras and talk about how the tide is turning in Bush’s favor, why, just look at all these supporters, and they are just a percentage of Bush’s supporters (granted that percentage might be 99.9995, but still…) Why, if Bush wasn’t turning the tide, why would be on here TELLING you that the tide is turning? Ipso facto, e pluribus unum, the tide MUST be turning. And while those on the left argue, judiciously, if you will, that the conservative pundits are filled with oh-so-much horse hockey, the Administration will be off spinning lies somewhere else. From the Administration’s Orwellian perspective, if anyone believes Bush’s nonsense, that’s residual good news. All that matters is that he talks, and keeps talking, and the more he talks about problem A, as awful as that might be, the less time people have to worry about Problems B through Z. We won’t ever be able to hold him accountable, because there will always be another problem he’ll create that will have to be gone over and over to determine what we SHOULD do, in which time, there will be yet another problem…see the pattern.
2: I know this has been said so many times, but it bears repeating. Why is it that the GOP held Clinton in such contempt, yet try to do the same things Clinton did that made him so successful? And use him as a scapegoat when they’re caught with their hands in the oil fiel…er, cookie jar? “Well, Clinton did something similar in Kosovo…” “Clinton did the exact same thing in ninety-seven…” “Clinton lied to Congress, and you liberals loved him…” HEY! ASSHATS! If you think Clinton was wrong to do anything he did, then stop using him as an excuse for your bad behavior! You think it comes across as what’s-good-for-the-goose-is-good-for-the-gander (or, as the GOP probably prefers, tit-for-tat). But instead, you come across as becoming the thing you claim to hate! Utilizing the actions of a man you CLAIM almost destroyed the country! If it was wrong when HE did it, it’s wrong when you do it! Personally, I don’t have a problem with Clinton’s peccadilloes (sp?) or perceived flaws, but you all apparently do! Lead by example, nimrods!
Ya think some of the supposed charm of George Walker Bush might have been in the eyes and hearts of those who control the media? Even if it ever were real (which I very much doubt – Bush did lose the elections, after all) it seems to have had a very short shelf life, TeeVee world being what it is.
After all that’s gone wrong on his watch, people are finally beginning to smell many rats and coalesce around a solution: treat the Bush Crime Family as it deserves, impeachment and prosecution. Once that thought becomes paramount, every further PR effort by the Bushies simply re-enforces it.
Who knows? Congress may even “get it” one of these days.
Mr. Bush fails to realize we are now seeing him as a used car dealer who has kept us on the lot far too long trying to sell us a used lemon instead of the Cadillac he keeps describing. We have decided not to buy his wares at this time, and I would hope he would get the message sometime soon! -Kevo
***…victory in Iraq is pivotal to the larger fight against terrorism….***
Isn’t that a lot like saying “the temperature in my deep freezer in Northeast Ohio is pivotal to the average miles-per-gallon of a 1952 Buick—in Havana, Cuba?”
It’s almost as if he’s daring people to do something about him….
This is the problem with depending on pure “faith” to understand the world. Bush is a true believer in his own infallibility, and in the divine righteousness of his crusade, and he naturally expects others to blindly accept his statements as if they were received religious wisdom.
And this plea to the authoritarian impulse can work for a while, especially when people are prosperous, ignorant and/or vulnerable. But at some point, the self-contained reality “created” by Bush just gets too far from the actual, concrete, in-your-face reality that most of us live and struggle in.
What motivates the twenty-something percent of Americans who continue to live in Bush’s world is a mystery to me, but their refusal to acknowledge reality will only get uglier as the rest of us move on.
Watching a lifelong failure publicly prove that fact is extremely frustrating, that the American people could have put this worthless piece of shit in any position of responsibility.
We fought the Commies in Korea so we wouldn’t have to fight them here and also in Viet Nam.
It’s plain to see how tough it’s been fighting off the Commies from our beaches since we cut and ran. Hollywood has clearly been overrun.
Charles W,
What motivates the twenty-something percent of Americans who continue to live in Bush’s world is a mystery to me,…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fear and Greed.
That’s what motivates that die-hard base. They are scared of different people and thus any liberties they should enjoy. They are scared of losing their McMansion and 2WD SUVs, motorhomes and other recreational vehicles. We would still be a colony of Great Britain if these people had influence here in the late 1700s.
Bush stole both elections people, and too many people are aware of that fact for him ever to get his credibility back. He lied us into a war and most of us know that, even the people who don’t read The Carpetbagger Report. Personally I think impeachment and prison are the best remedies for all of these thugs, but don’t hold your collective breaths.
There is too much money and power behind these crooks. Bush/Cheney are despicable in their lack of responsibility and accountability, but the represent very powerful interests such as The Carlyle Group. People with that much power don’t get held accountable.
“relentlessly, insisting that they’re endangering the troops and pursuing an irresponsible foreign policy.”
The American public doesn’t accept the Bush/Cheney line because their line makes no sense.
Bringing home the troops means getting them out of danger and talking to other nations in the region certainly can’t hurt.
I think that the American people have never really accepted the notion that refusing to talk to a foreign nation is somehow good policy. Nixon’s trip to China was very popular with the American people. As I recall most people saw no sense in not talking to China. The big objection to dealing with China came from the Republican right, the Robert Taft crowd and his successors. Whenever a Democrat even hinted at relations with China the right-wing had head exploding fits. That’s why it was said that only Nixon could go to China.
Today, except in south Florida, a dialogue with Cuba would be viewed with favor by the American people.
IMHO the public sees the Bush crowd as bumbling idiots and on top of that the message they’re hammering away at is viewed as absolute nonsense only reinforcing the realization that the Bush gang are bumbling idiots.
Witless Wahoo (above) hit on another important point.
Many of us are old enough to remember the ‘domino theory.’ The theory that if a given nation fell to Communists that the next adjacent country and the next and the next and the next, etc. would fall until we’d be fighting them in Seattle.
It’s been over thirty years since we threw in the towel in Vietnam and Seattle has yet to be threatened by Communist hordes.
So when Bush and Cheney make stupid remarks to the effect that if we leave Iraq the terrorists will follow us home; there are millions of Americans who realize that the Bush mob it spewing absolute bullshit.
Bush and co. are striking out because the public finally realizes they’re full of crap.
When my right wing friends (can’t help it, I live in Texas) ask if I want Iraq to be another Vietnam, I reply ” I sure hope so”. We went from killing each other and the Vietnamese killing their own to trading partners with a country at peace. Sure there were transition atrocities and they’re still commies but “bidness is bidness” and we’ve gotten over it. Whatever ugliness awaits Iraq working it out and whatever they are left with at the end will still deal with us and sell us oil because they have to. (I haven’t noticed Bush and Co. calling for a boycott of Venezuelan oil yet, nor Chavez turning off the spigot as a gesture of protest) It will, however, be three or four decades before we can be really chummy so we should start the process sooner rather than later.