how can this be? muck assures me that everyone is crazy about SS piratization!

And now I think we can consign the trolls to their rightful minority status. The majority of Americans do not think the way you trolls do, they do not approve of the things you do, and they do not believe your way is the right way. Trolls = minority. So take your screwball ideas and your AWOL President and buzz off.

Honestly.

If Bush went on TV next week and said he was sendin' everyone in America a $200 advance on their Social Security benefits and said it would be "your" money and "no one could take it away" his approval would probably shoot up to 75%.

[blinkers off] Oh! $200! That's great! What a great president! [blinkers on]

And now back to our regular programming.

A nation of morons.

Sounds like its time to start bombing Iran!

I love you guys, but there's no "problem" at the White House. It doesn't make a goddamn bit of difference what the polls show. Bush is in office until 2009. That won't change no matter how badly think BushCo is handling the economy, Social Security, etc., etc. I hope Red State America and the 49 million that voted for Bush gag on all their success.

Don't be so sure Phil. Things can happen. They impeached President William Jefferson Clinton for nothing, surely we could impeach him for actual high crimes and treason and dereliction of duty and just general assholishness, don't ya think?

When your hot, your hot department: With his approval ratings soaring down to 49%, Bush will ask Congress to blow another 75 Billion into the Donald Rumsfeld/Ahmed Chalibi Trust Fund. Congress is investigating widespread finance fraud with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, so what better time to ask for Billions more in slush fund money. Take a second to consider what 75 Billion dollars could do to ensure the future of Social Security.

Phil, I'm sorry to report that number was 60 million (remember the Mirror headline). But it does make a difference. If he can't get anything done - see more tax cuts - ss priv.- tort reform - more fat tonys on the SC - if he gets politically weak he'll be a lame duck - but there is always jj's Iran option. But how is that gonna fly with the rest of the world? And where are the troops gonna come from?

The lowest approval ratings of any president going into their 2nd term. I wonder what the fundies are going to think about the White House vetting a male prostitute as part of the propaganda corps? Perhaps that 49% number might drop a little more, no?

Off topic but;

Another Missile Defense Shield flameout.

We all know what Georgie thinks of programs that don't work. Right?

We all know what Georgie thinks of programs that don't work. Right?

we should triple their funding?

column on propoganda corps

looks like we're finally getting back to pre 9/11 numbers....maybe the country is beginning to leave the fog of 9/11..after all... his entire presidency has been based on it...maybe people are beginning to see little bush for what he is...this budget helps show him for the liar that he is....screwed people that backed him...tax cuts for the ultra wealthy...benefit cuts for farmers...schools ..veterans...a budget that doesn't include the iraq war...and yes he can be impeached.... and tried for war crimes..

Steve Soto's obsession with poll numbers is easily the most baffling part of The Left Coaster. Why does he bother? If they are up (from his perspective), he's happy, but skeptical; if they're down, he's all hot about it, but happily confirmed in his suspicions, anyway.

READ THAT PRESS CORPS "COLUMN!!!!!" IT'S HILARIOUS!!

Don't know who posted it, but kudos!!!

Dennis:

maybe people are beginning to see little bush for what he is...

Right. That election we just had is proof enough of that.

Do you people not know that exit polls and Gallup polls and all the other crap are irrelevant in the face of election returns?

Oh and BTW: Toby Putzold's presence here is easily the most baffling part of the comments section. Why does he bother? If he opens his mouth, S*** comes out. If he opens it again, more S***. But he happily opens it again and again with little regard to fact, proof, logic, basic common sense, decency, and anything other than Bu$hCo propaganda. Only muckdog and muckdog alone appears to spew more S***, an amazing feat in and of itself!

Shut up, we don't care.

Polls use small sample sizes that are supposed to represent how America thinks. Different polling companies have varying successes and varying failures. Sometimes they're right; sometimes they're wrong. One year, a particular polling methodology works; the next year, it's way off. They make interest news headlines.

The nation had a large poll in November 2004.

Bush won 51% to 48%.
The GOP picked up Senate seats.
The GOP picked up House seats.

You might want to mail those results to Gallop and let them know.

Polls use small sample sizes that are supposed to represent how America thinks. Different polling companies have varying successes and varying failures. Sometimes they're right; sometimes they're wrong. One year, a particular polling methodology works; the next year, it's way off. They make interest news headlines.

Sort of like how financial pundits operate.

Well, Muck it would have been great if Jr. had actually campaigned on what he was going to do. Did he tell the farmers that he was going to cut their subsidies? No. Did he tell Americans that he was going to privatize social security? No, and as a matter of fact when asked he denied that he was going to do it.

I liken it to getting real drunk, blacking out, your dog pissing on your face waking you up the next morning and rolling over to find something resembling a warthog in bed next to you, naked.

Some people call it byers remorse.

Toby's presence here at the Leftcoaster continuing to criticize the man who is kind enough to host the site is baffling to me. It's one thing to disagree Toby, it's quite another to diss the host, not that you care or would know the difference.

Toby, no one forces you to come here, to read the posts, or to comment. Yet unfortunately for some reason you never stay away for more than a few days at a time...For someone who is a guest here, you're pretty insensitive to the host, but I guess this beligerent, macho, tough guy schtick is all a par for the course just like your hero Junior.

If you don't like it why do you stay Toby?

ga6thDem, I also don't remember Junior advocating for cuts in education funding, veteran's healthcare, housing, fuel assistance and medicaid for the poor, disabled, elderly and children when he was out on the campaign trail either. But it's not as if he didn't lie the first time around when he campaigned about lockboxes, deficits, and debt, nation building, exit strategies etc....and no one called him on those lies.

Bush couldn't care less about these polls just like he couldn't care less about the American people. the bushies were able to fool 59 million (Toady and Mucky among them). That's all bush cares about. He's re-elected - now he can just shit on the American people to his hearts content. The media will support him and the Dems are just cowardly wimps. Its now bush's time to really plunder America!

Ga6, you mean Bush took a page from the Clinton 92 playbook? Remember the middle class tax cut, and then Clinton hiked taxes on the middle class? Hoo, that was a good one. Clinton also raised tax levels on folks who receive social security, in his 1993 tax hikes. (In 1993, Clinton raised taxation to 85 percent of benefits).

Muck, what middle class taxes did Clinton raise as part of the '93 deal?

mucky, quibble, Clinton didn't run for preznit in 2004 just in case you didn't realize it...fool.

So I take it you didn't enjoy 8 years of relative PEACE and PRosperity??? Wow, you didn't enjoy the period when revenues grew, job were created, and the GDP grew too which you know was in direct contradiction to your Trickle down laffer curve macroeconomic theory that says tax cuts for the rich lead to increased tax revenues and job growth....hahaha...good one mucky.

You're bustin my gut tonight. My how times change, wasn't it just a week or so ago you were quoting Clinton's ideas on Social Security with some bogus out of context quotes??? What happened muck, blinded by your partisan hatred, ideology, and selfish greed?

Oh yeah, when are you enlisting mucky? Have you made a sacrifice for your Boy's reckless fiscal and military policies you are so hot for?

Hehe muck. Clinton did that in his first term. That took guts. Hmm, it seems like you are making a tacit admission that the GOP will lose a bunch of seats in 2006.

call it the 'fog of war' if you will, but when exactly has Bush told the truth? I can't recall one solid example.

Rasmussen has bush at 50 percent approval, 49 percent disapproval. Rasmussen was the most reliable poll in the presidential 04 election, so that is the one I consult.

We are very close to the tipping point. The attack on social security is far more risky for the bush fascists than the attack on iraq because every single person in the country, damn near, knows multiple persons who would suffer due to the privatization proposal.

Steve,

When are you and Ruy and others going to make a mega-stink about Gallup's failed methodologies? I'm not talking about bitching, or catching them again and again, but about putting a stop to this bullshit.

Suggested steps:

1) Get the academic community involved, and in particular the statistical experts. Ask them to develop a method by which party identification can be reliably tracked over time for ALL pollsters.

I.e., stop leaving it up to all these fucking hack outfits to come up with their own distributions. As you rightly point out, party affiliation doesn't change that quickly.

2) Go after Gallup as publicly as possible, making it clear that Gallup's PR machine is justifying its results and not the other way around. Produce your own 'news' (press releases) in easy-to-understand language and send them to non-Gallup-affiliated papers - or to Gallup's competitors. Go after these guys and undercut their credibility. If they start to take a hit in the wallet they'll wake up.

3) Be a motherfucker about this.

Muck, Regan Raised taxes in 82. What's your point.

Polls is polls. Those organizations make a ton of money taking polls. Every once and awhile, they're even accurate. Hard to predict, though.

The ultimate political poll, is election day. Everything else is conversation.

Isn't that a line from movie?

Happy Valentines Day, Lefties.

Muck: Go back to trading U$D/Euros...you're too messy around "poles"; is English a second language for you?

muckster, No I think the more accurate quote for (s)election day might be, "It's not the votes that count, it's who counts the votes." ;~p

emal:

If you don't like it why do you stay Toby?

Because the pay's so damned good.

Toby, yeah tell me about it...great pension plan for retirement too. It will be a great supplement to my social security insurance, but don't let muckster know.

but when exactly has Bush told the truth

During the 7 minutes he froze after being told of an attack on New York.

i guess that national poll taken in 2000..the one between gore and the chimp in november of that year didn't matter much...guess those exit polls that night in florida were all wrong..the ones that made the networks to call it for gore...til the call to jeb went out and said jim baker will be right there....

as far as the poll taken in november 2004..that one was taken by osama bin laden...with diebold counting the votes

phidipidies

i will go to my grave wondering how anyone who ever saw the video of him reading to the children could ever vote for him..it is astonishing to see...osama laughed at him in front of the whole world actually thanking him for the extra time it gave the murderers..it was a deriliction of duty beyond comprehension..he froze..i think the reason it was not used in the campaign is because it was to frightening to see who was in charge

Since the samples themselves seem to tell us what America thinks, why do we need to ask the questions at all? Just take samples.

If I take a sample and it is 40%R/30%D/30%I, then the general population supports the administration. If the sample is 40%D/30%R/30%I, tehn the general population doesn't support the administartion. Wow, I didn't know it was that easy...maybe I could get paid by CNN/USAT/WSG/FOX/...

We all know what Georgie thinks of programs that don't work. Right?

we should triple their funding?

We should find them a cabinet position?

In re the Bush poll, party ID is pretty static, actually. People don't switch parties frequently so I question that explanation for overlooking party affiliation.

Second, I clearly recall the media branding a newly-elected Clinton's approval rating as "unpopular" when it had dropped to a "low" of 62% or so.

Bill Clinton left office with an approval rating of 68%, a full 20-25 points higher than Bush before or after 9/11.

Duckman: Bush will never be impeached by a Republican congress.

republicans eat their own..if the crimes of this administration start costing them reelection...anything is possible..clinton was impeached for lying about something that wasn't a crime..go figure

I have a trust fund?

Where?

-

Gallup(Frank Newport) appears to have responded to your well founded doubts about the reliability of his poll. Suffice to say he doesn't agree and he seems to be hiding behind the odd premise that party loyalty is wildly volatile.

GallupBlog

The fact there are more people identifying with the GOP in a sample is most probably a result of the same forces that are pushing Bush's higher job approval numbers

Aaah, circular logic explains everything doesn't it? Thanks contrariwise good post.

Have you ever met a person, who participated in a
Gallup poll. I didn't and so didn't thousand of
randomly choosen people, who have been questioned.

The problem here is the press. But they already run out of trust.

Funny this arguments of Americans if you critize us - you hate us. If you don't like us why don't you leave.

This morons give us so much pleasure, because they
make us laugh all the time. Shouldn't we pay them?