CNN: BUSH LEAST POPULAR PRESIDENT OF MODERN TIMES

CNN:

A new poll suggests that George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush his handling his job as president.

"No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

"Bush's approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon (22 percent and 24 percent, respectively) but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s," Holland added. "The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 66 percent disapproval in January 1952."

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider adds, "He is more unpopular than Richard Nixon was just before he resigned from the presidency in August 1974." President Nixon's disapproval rating in August 1974 stood at 67 percent.

The poll also indicates that support for the war in Iraq has never been lower. Thirty percent of those questioned favored the war while 68 percent opposed the conflict.

"Americans are growing more pessimistic about the war," Holland said. "In January, nearly half believed that things were going well for the U.S. in Iraq; now that figure has dropped to 39 percent."

The numbers on the Iraq war come on the five-year anniversary of President Bush's "mission accomplished" moment onboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, when Bush proclaimed that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

THE NUMBERS ARE RIGHT BUT THE ANALYSIS IS ALL WRONG WRONG WRONG.

The things which cost Bush popularity were not things which pissed off the Democrats or the left or the Doves.

The things which made Bush LESS popular were things he did which pissed off the Republican base, conservatives and hawks!

Bush and Rove might have believed that SUCKING UP TO THE LEFT by supporting amnesty and Miers and a HUGE INCREASE in DOMESTIC spending (the largest since LBJ!) would have increased Bush's popularity overall... BUT THEY WERE TOTALLY EFFIN' WRONG! All these things did was PISS OFF THE BASE.

The basic flaw in Bush's and Rove's thinking was their belief that Democrats - or parts of the Democrat coalition - were co-optable.

They were not, and this principally was a result of the 2000 election and BDS.

Gore versus Bush and the SCOTUS decision which ultimately gave Bush the victory poisoned the well. Sadly, he would have won without the SCOTUS and a victory without the SCOTUS would have spared the nation BDS. The fact that the 2000 election ended up in court is pf course GORE'S FAULT.

As for why the Iraq War is unpopular, it's simple: Bush's base in the GOP thinks he mishandled it by being to soft on the enemy in Iraq (and on Iran), and too soft on the foes of the war here at home - like the lying traitors Wilson & Plame.

Bush couldn't lose Democrat support for the war because HE NEVER HAD IT.
And he failed to gain any.
Only total undeniable victory will make it popular. (That or a Dem prez who takes the credit!)

Bush's decline at the polls is strictly a result of his failing to lead the nation as a hawk and and his failure to govern as a conservative.

There's a lesson in this for ANY GOP POTUS. (AY YO, MCCAIN: ARE YOU LISTENING!?!?)

The Iraq War is likely to go down in history as a GREAT AND NOBLE CAUSE.

But only if we take down Iran.

Then - in the decades to come - Bush will be more revered than Truman and perhaps as much as FDR, who like Bush was a flawed liberal hawk.