Month: April 2006

Poll: Public Suffering ‘Bush Fatigue’

Buck Banks

Sooooo tired: A savvy Pensito Review reader coined the expression “outrage fatigue” a while back, which aptly expressed the ennui many of us feel when we are confronted with the most recent outrageous antics of Bush Co. Well, apparently, about two-thirds of Americans are feeling “Bush fatigue,” according to an April Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey.

The survey found that 62 percent of Americans agree with the statement, “I am tired of all the problems associated with the Bush administration.” In comparison, during the latter part of the Clinton administration 71 percent expressed a similar sentiment in August 1999, and 72 percent in September 2000).

‘I am tired of all the problems associated with the Bush administration.’
— America

Of course, “Bush fatigue” varies by party affiliation. Most Democrats (82 percent) and independents (69 percent) expressed weariness with the administration, compared with just 30 percent of Republicans.

The survey indicated that the sense of a need for change crosses party lines: Nearly half of moderate and liberal Republicans (48 percent) and about a third of conservative Republicans (31 percent) say they want the next president to offer policies that are different from Bush Co.’s. Overwhelming numbers of independents (81 percent) and conservative and moderate Democrats (91 percent), as well as virtually all liberal Democrats (98 percent), want the next president to set a new policy course.

The real danger of Bush fatigue, of course, is that once one slips into the sticky morass of political ennui, it’s hard to pull oneself out of the tar pit of indifference (I love to mix metaphors!). “Tired of Bush” could develop into “tired of politics,” which would spell trouble for the potential policy change that many of us are wearily hoping for.

More Quotes from Tony Snow Trashing Bush

Jon Ponder

Last night, we posted a quote from White House spokesman-to-be Tony Snow who likened President Bush’s speech patterns to those of a person with anxiety disorders. This morning, Think Progress has more recent quotes from Snow’s radio shows and columns in which he has been highly critical of the president:

“The president doesn’t seem to give a rip about spending restraint.”
— new W.H. spokesman Tony Snow

– Bush has “lost control of the federal budget and cannot resist the temptation to stop raiding the public fisc.” [3/17/06]
– “George W. Bush and his colleagues have become not merely the custodians of the largest government in the history of humankind, but also exponents of its vigorous expansion.” [3/17/06]

– “President Bush distilled the essence of his presidency in this year’s State of the Union Address: brilliant foreign policy and listless domestic policy.” [2/3/06]

– “George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.” [11/11/05]

– Bush “has a habit of singing from the Political Correctness hymnal.” [10/7/05]

– “No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives.” [9/30/05]

– Bush “has given the impression that [he] is more eager to please than lead, and that political opponents can get their way if they simply dig in their heels and behave like petulant trust-fund brats, demanding money and favor — now!” [9/30/05]

– “When it comes to federal spending, George W. Bush is the boy who can’t say no. In each of his three years at the helm, the president has warned Congress to restrain its spending appetites, but so far nobody has pushed away from the table mainly because the president doesn’t seem to mean what he says.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

– “The president doesn’t seem to give a rip about spending restraint.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

Bush Talks ‘Like a Soul Tortured with Tourette’s’ — Tony Snow

Jon Ponder

CNN just confirmed that Tony Snow will be named White House spokesman tomorrow. Here’s what Snow wrote in a column about candidate George W. Bush in 2000:

At one point last week, he stunned a friendly audience by barking out absurd and inappropriate words, like a soul tortured with Tourette’s…

Bush … has to persuade people he’s smart. He recently tried to dazzle reporters by discussing the vagaries of Congressional Budget Office economic forecasts, but his recitation of numbers proved so bewildering that not even his aides could produce a comprehensible translation.

The English Language [sic] has become a minefield for the man, whose malaprops make him the political heir not of Ronald Reagan, but Norm Crosby. Who can forget the time he vowed defiantly not to let the opposition put him in cufflinks? (He meant “handcuffs.”)

DHS Wants Access to Social Security Databases to Ferret Out Illegal Aliens

Buck Banks

Cost of security is privacy: The Department of Homeland Security is pushing Congress to pass legislation giving its Immigration and Customs Enforcement division access to Social Security databases so it can identify mismatched and fake SS numbers used by illegal aliens. Remembering the heckuva job DHS did during Hurricane Katrina and the fact that DHS employees have been arrested for trying to pick up 14-year-olds over the Internet, it sounds like a great idea to let them “mine” data from Social Security’s databases. The plan, which some say just cobbles together existing initiatives into a “new” program, was proposed last Thursday.

ICE Administrator Julie Myers said 80,000 incarcerated immigrants were deported last year, and the plan is to increase that number by 10 percent each year for the next two years.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department wants Congress to pass legislation that would let investigators with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency access Social Security Administration databases. According to ICE, millions of workers have given Social Security numbers to their employers that do not match their names, but ICE does not have access to data to investigate this activity.

“One of the key challenges that supports illegal migration is abuse of our Social Security system and the Social Security document,” Chertoff said during a news conference. “We’ve been urging Congress to pass legislation, now before the Senate, that would grant the Department of Homeland Security some carefully crafted access to Social Security no-match data so we can detect those employers who are systematically employing workers, despite the fact that there’s an obvious mismatch between the names and the Social Security numbers in question.”

The overall strategy announced Thursday has three elements: identify and remove criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and other immigration violators in the country; build strong worksite enforcement and compliance programs to deter illegal employment; and uproot criminal infrastructure domestically and abroad that supports illegal immigration, criminal trafficking and document or benefits fraud.

ICE Administrator Julie Myers said her agency also is training prison officers on how to deport illegal immigrants already in custody. She said 80,000 incarcerated immigrants were deported last year, and the plan is to increase that number by 10 percent each year for the next two years.

What a great plan — get rid of all the maids, day laborers and empty the prisons at the same time.

Democratic Weak Spots In the Midterms

Buck Banks

Ripples in the “wave”: While it seems that most commentators have been focused on the opportunities for the Democratic Party to gain House congressional seats in the midterms, Nathan L. Gonzales notes in the Rothenberg Political Report that in the past 50 years, no party has won seats without losing at least one. If that’s the case, argues Gonzales, then rather than the 15 seats the Dems need to gain a majority in the House, they might need 16 or 17 — or maybe 26!

Gonzales notes: “In the last 50 years, no party has been completely shutout in the takeover columns in the House. That means, that even in ‘wave’ elections including 1994, the party bearing the majority of the losses has managed to pick off at least one incumbent or one open seat from the other side.”

‘In the last 50 years, no party has been completely shutout in the takeover columns in the House.’

Here’s Gonzales’ analysis of the weak points in the Democratic Party’s armor in the midterms:

1. Ohio 6 (Open). Democrats hit a severe bump in the road when state Sen. Charlie Wilson (D) failed to garner the 50 valid signatures necessary to qualify for the primary ballot. Now, Wilson is running an expensive write-in campaign in the May 2 primary. State Rep. Chuck Blasdel is the likely GOP nominee, but he is still recovering from a hit he took for owing back-taxes. If Wilson doesn’t get the nomination, Republican prospects improve dramatically. If he is the nominee, it’s a very competitive race.

2. West Virginia 1 (Alan Mollohan). Cong. Mollohan is under pressure from Republicans and now the editorial boards of the New York Times and Washington Post to step down from his role as ranking member of the House Ethics Committee. [Note: Mollohan did step down from the committee on Friday.] Under scrutiny is the dramatic increase in his personal wealth over the last four years and money he directed to a handful of non-profit companies he helped set up, back in the state. State Delegate Chris Wakim (R), a West Point graduate and Gulf War veteran, showed $118,463 in the bank on March 31 and could take advantage if Mollohan’s political situation becomes more dire.

3. Georgia 8 (Jim Marshall). Former Cong. Mac Collins (R) is running a rejuvenated campaign against Democrat Jim Marshall in a redrawn district. Marshall had over $1 million on hand through the first quarter of the year compared to almost $700,000 for Collins. President Bush carried the 8th District in both 2000 (58%) and 2004 (61%).
[…]

Pink: ‘Dear Mr. President’ — Finally, a Song for Our Times

Trish

“Dear Mr. President”

by Pink, featuring the Indigo Girls

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and
You’re not better than me
I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We’re not dumb and we’re not blind
They’re all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

[…]

Poll: One-Third of Americans Are Delusional, Still Support Bush

Jon Ponder
Asked whether “honest and trustworthy” describes the president, 40 percent said yes, down from 56 percent in a survey carried out April 1-2 last year.

As troubling as it is for our national health and security that 32 percent of Americans still support President Bush, it is also disturbing to consider what will happen when these tens of millions of people are finally exposed to the reality of what this administration has done.

I know — right now it appears the deception and skullduggery will never be brought to light. But as we have seen in the past year or so, the old truism is true: Truth will out. One day, perhaps very soon, the smoking gun will be revealed. What will happen then to the psyches of these delusional Americans — especially the ones whose sons and daughters have died in Iraq for no reason — is a big question mark.

One false aspect of the president’s persona is already crumbling:

Asked whether “honest and trustworthy” describes the president, 40 percent said yes, down from 56 percent in a survey carried out April 1-2 last year.

CNN Says Tony Snow Will Take WH Spokesliar Job

Jon Ponder

Hack to flack:

“It would be a change in job title, but not description.”
— Neal Gabler

On “Anderson Cooper 360,” Suzanne Malveaux, CNN’s White House correspondent, is reporting that Tony Snow will accept the job to replace Scott McClellan as the new White House press secretary. The announcement might come in a few days or as early as tomorrow.

Neal Gabler, the man Bill O’Reilly wants fired from “Fox News Watch,” had this to say on Saturday about Tony: “It would be a change in job title, but not description.”