Messiah Simplex

Friday, May 11, 2007

BUSH HAS LOWEST APPROVAL RATING IN HISTORY

Hey, the left loves to talk ad nauseam about Bush's low approval rating whenever they get the chance. "Bush has the lowest approval rating of any president in history" is a favorite mantra of theirs. Here's a fact: It's simply not true. Not even close.

The president who received the lowest approval rating in history was Harry Truman, who got down to 23%. Maybe GW Bush has the second lowest in history........NOPE. That honor goes to Richard Nixon, with 24%. How about the third lowest? Jimmy Carter, with 28%. If and when this Republican president sinks to 22%, then and only then can the spin happy, fact bending liberals talk about Bush having the lowest AR in history. Until that day comes, everyone with the ability to read would really appreciate an end to the lies.

Well, just because Bush doesn't have the all time lowest approval rating in history, doesn't mean that his rating doesn't suck........

That's true, and surely, George W Bush isn't the owner of the record for history's highest approval rating. Oh, wait........YES HE IS. In late 2001, he received the highest approval rating ever for a president: 90%. No doubt I will now be answered by huffing and puffing libs who will say that THAT number is meaningless. Save your breath. You'll need it for your clever chants about the war. If the LOW approval ratings he gets are important, then so are the HIGH ratings. Can't have it both ways, that's just not how it....oh, wait.....forgot who I was addressing.

Here's another insight into approval ratings: The aforementioned Harry Truman, who received the lowest approval rating ever (23), was also the recipient of the third highes ever, with a rating of 87% at one point in his presidency. Guess who got the second highest approval rating in history............The elder Bush, during the Gulf War (89%). Man, those pesky numbers........

All that having been said, I now ask you, the insightful reader, to take a look at this story from the USA Today website just today. Nancy Pelosi's Democratic Congress and Whining Factory is in posession of an identical approval rating as Bush right now. And here's the best part: They blame it on Bush. I love the way you guys play. Maybe Bush can somehow be blamed for the Lindberg baby thing.

So, tell me......are the numbers important, or not?



CONGRESS, BUSH SHARE LOW APPROVAL
By Alan Fram, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — People think the Democratic-led Congress is doing just as dreary a job as President Bush, following four months of bitter political standoffs that have seen little progress on Iraq and a host of domestic issues.

An AP-Ipsos poll also found that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a more popular figure than the president and her colleagues on Capitol Hill, though she faces a gender gap in which significantly more women than men support her.

The survey found only 35% approve of how Congress is handling its job, down 5 percentage points in a month. That gives lawmakers the same bleak approval rating as Bush, who has been mired at about that level since last fall, including his dip to a record low for the AP-Ipsos poll of 32% last January.

"It's mostly Iraq" plus a lack of progress in other areas, said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who heads the House GOP's campaign committee. "These are not good numbers for an incumbent, and it doesn't matter if you have an 'R' or a 'D' next to your name."

Democrats agree that the problem is largely Iraq, which has dominated this year's session of Congress while producing little more than this month's Bush veto of a bill requiring the withdrawal of U.S. troops. It has also overshadowed House-passed bills on stem cell research, student loans and other subjects that the White House opposes, they say.

"People are unhappy, there hasn't been a lot of change in direction, for example in Iraq," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of House Democrats' campaign effort.

Rising gasoline prices could also be a factor, lawmakers said.

In another measure of popular discontent, the survey found that 71% say the country is on the wrong track — about even with the 73% who said so last May, the worst level since the AP-Ipsos poll began in December 2003.

The survey was taken Monday through Wednesday, before Bush offered to seek compromise with congressional Democrats over a war spending bill setting benchmarks for progress in Iraq.

Bush told reporters Thursday that if pollsters had asked his opinion about Iraq last fall, "I'd have said I disapprove of what was going on in Iraq. They could have put me down as part of the disapproval process."

That was before his decision to send nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq, which "would more likely cause me to approve of what's going on in Iraq," he added.

Overall approval of Bush was steady from last month, but fell to 69% among Republicans, about 7 percentage points below where it had been in April. Earlier this week, a group of GOP moderate House members warned Bush that the status quo in Iraq could mean Republican election losses next year.

"If the war doesn't begin to turn around, Republicans will have problems," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who said he supports Bush's Iraq policy.

White House spokesman Tony Snow declined to comment on the poll.

Congress' approval rating this week was 10 points higher than a year ago, when Republicans were in control.

But after bumping up in April, this month's drop left lawmakers' job approval where it was when the year began. April saw Congress defy Bush and send him a bill financing the war and requiring a troop withdrawal, which he vetoed May 1.

"People wanted change in Washington" on many issues, not just Iraq, said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic leadership. "I'm not surprised about where people are. They're hearing only about Iraq."

Congress' reduced appeal was evident in several categories of people. Only 48% of Democrats said they approved of Congress, down from 55% last month. That included a 12 percentage point drop among Democratic women, though support from Democratic men remained steady.

Approval by minorities also fell a dozen points to 39%, with a similar reduction among people whose family incomes exceed $75,000.

By region, the steepest drop was in the Midwest, where approval fell by 10 percentage points to 28%. Congress' highest approval was in the Northeast, where four in ten gave it a positive rating.

As for Pelosi, D-Calif., her overall approval of 45% stood 10 points higher than Bush's and Congress'.

She was seen favorably by 52% of women, but only 39% of men. While whites are closely split about her, minorities approve of her job by a 15-point margin.

Pelosi's numbers are about where she was last month but slightly lower than in January. In the last month, she has lost significant support from younger voters, college-educated women and Westerners.

"Voters are frustrated by the fact that the president refuses to change direction on Iraq," said Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly.

Bush's approval ratings are lowest for his handling of Iraq and domestic issues including health care, with about one-third seeing him favorably. About four in 10 like the job he is doing on the economy and foreign policy.

Men give the president higher grades than women do, whites higher than minorities, and married people higher than singles.

The AP-Ipsos survey involved telephone interviews with 1,000 adults. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I LOVE THAT THEY EVEN TRY TO BLAME BUSH FOR THEIR OWN LOW APPROVAL RATING. BEAUTIFUL.

XOXO,

GULL

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