Day: May 20, 2006

A Nation of Bush-Haters

Jon Ponder

Remember the halcyon days six months ago when being a “Bush hater” was a bad thing? Well,those days are gone for good now, according to the polls:

The problem with Bush’s purported likability was that was almost entirely manufactured.

It’s not just the way he’s doing his job. Americans apparently don’t like President Bush personally much anymore, either.

A drop in his personal popularity, as measured by several public polls, has shadowed the decline in Bush’s job-approval ratings and weakened his political armor when he and his party need it most.

Losing that political protection – dubbed “Teflon” when Ronald Reagan had it – is costing Bush what the late political scientist Richard Neustadt called the “leeway” to survive hard times and maintain his grip on the nation’s agenda. Without it, Bush is a more tempting target for political enemies. And members of his party in Congress are less inclined to stand with him.

The problem with Bush’s purported likability was that was almost entirely manufactured. Back before the turn of the century, when Bush was running for president the first time, all he and his aides had to do to make something true was simply to say it was so. With the help of the supine “liberal” media, they could create whatever reality they wanted to. Remember how Saddam was going to fly drones over 5,000 miles and drop dirty bombs on us?

Just last week, President Bush’s svengali, Karl Rove, tried the say-it-and-make-it-so strategy when he made this delusional statement:

The American people like this president. His personal approval ratings are in the 60s. Job approval is lower. And what that says to me is that people like him, they respect him, he’s somebody they feel a connection with, but they’re just sour right now on the war. And that’s the way it’s going to be.

Rove said he based his statements on Republican Party polls. But he had to have been flat out lying and now, as a sign of at least a modest change in the atmospherics in Washington, Knight-Ridder has an article up debunking Rove’s wishful thinking:

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Help Bring Attention to the National Health Insurance Crisis

Jon Ponder

Parenting Magazine Seeks Middle-Income Family Without Insurance for Interview

Are you among the millions of middle-income families who have no health insurance–or do you know a family who is?

The fastest-growing sector of the population to be without coverage are working families who make less than $60,000/year. For these Americans, losing health insurance means either going into debt to pay for medical attention or going without the attention they and their children need.

Parenting magazine, the national monthly Time/Life publication, is looking to feature just such a family–two parents and probably two kids, one of whom is an infant or toddler–as they struggle to cope. If you meet this description, or you know of a middle-income family who does, please contact:

M. Marshall via email.