I am waiting for the column that says that being at 28% is good for Bush because he has nowhere to go but up. If the Big Speech bumps him up to 33% there will be reports that he is back in control and that he has regained his swagger.
Posted by James E. Powell at January 23, 2007 12:05 AMI love seeing 28%.
Another awful day to be Ellen Tauscher, Calitics has multiple diaries on the latest (including her press secretary Kevin Lawlor getting busted lying to the Oakland Tribune and AP.
Posted by blogswarm at January 23, 2007 12:25 AMWhat difference does 28% make? Nothing has changed. He is still pResident. He is still sending troops to Iraq. He will continue to do as he pleases, and he will continue to listen to the likes of Kissinger and Cheney. Impeach!
Posted by Judith at January 23, 2007 12:56 AMWell, are we surprised that an Al Qaeda tape magically appears just in time for the SOTUS. Bush will tell us that we have 'them running scared now.'
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Al Qaeda's deputy leader mocked U.S. President Bush's plan to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq, challenging him to send "the entire army" and vowing insurgents will defeat them in a new videotape, a U.S. group that tracks al Qaeda messages said Monday.
The Washington-based SITE Institute said it had intercepted the video from Ayman al-Zawahri, which had not yet been posted on Islamic militant Web sites, where his messages are usually posted. SITE did not elaborate on how it received the message.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/22/qaeda.tape.ap/index.html
President Bush faces the nation this week more unpopular than any president on the eve of a State of the Union address since Richard Nixon in 1974.
Posted by Judith at January 23, 2007 01:16 AMSOTUS speech tonight. Get the popcorn out. I look forward to Webb's response.
Posted by Judith at January 23, 2007 01:53 AM28% = Texas, Utah & Wyoming.
If he won't resign, impeach his ass.
I'll buy him a one-way airline ticket to Paraguay.
Posted by Christopher at January 23, 2007 02:06 AMI'll pop for a one way ticket to The Hague.
Posted by Judith at January 23, 2007 04:54 AMO/T
Proving that the Iraq war really is the family business, did anyone catch Elizabeth Cheney's nauseating piece in WaPo this morning advocating in favor of an escalation?
Papa Dick is so unpopular he has to send the kid out to warble his batshit crazy, neocon propaganda.
WaPo should be ashamed of itself for running this article.
Posted by Christopher at January 23, 2007 05:41 AMI am recommending a read of this post by Bob Cesca:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/unsolved-mystery-the-ira_b_39280.html
I ask the question some days ago what was meant in Bush's "New Way Forward" by "hydrocarbon policy". I knew, of course, it had something to do with oil in Iraq---but the use of that word made it all sound so Rovian, like the very antithesis to Gore's Inconvenient Truth message about "hydrocarbon emissions".
Well, Cesca has turned up a bit more and does a good job putting 2 and 2 together for its implications to the US and the escalation.
Posted by gtash at January 23, 2007 05:46 AMDid anyone read about the health care plan Bush is going to propose tonight? Taxing people who choose health plans that cost over $15,000 to help pay for subsidies for people who don't have coverage. Sounds interesting. Guess I'm always the optimist.
Posted by CG at January 23, 2007 06:14 AMWith numbers getting this bad, you can bet the cable news propaganda factories are going to go non-stop for the next few days with the al qaeda terrorism-following-you-to-your-doorstep angle.
Time to ramp up the fear and the demonic all-powerful enemies. Iran is a dagger pointed at the heart of Murica! We either preemptively nuke them there or they'll follow us home!
What would the Right do without its Fascist-TV arm? That's the true heart of "conservative" power. They knew they had to get the nation's televisions blatting what they wanted and the rest would follow.
I heard President Lunatic is proposing to change to how the tax code treats health insurance, by counting employer contributions toward health insurance as taxable income!
Yep. Only a Republican could come up with a scheme.
Posted by Christopher at January 23, 2007 06:58 AMSad to see that there are still 28% in the lunatic fringe who actually approve what Bu$h has done.
Posted by Cookie Monster at January 23, 2007 07:33 AMCG said:
Taxing people who choose health plans that cost over $15,000 to help pay for subsidies for people who don't have coverage. Sounds interesting. Guess I'm always the optimist.
I had not heard what Bush planned to propose on health care. It is interesting, and at $15,000 that would not be a cheap plan being taxed. At first glance, it sounds like taxing rich folks to support those less fortunate, though I'm not necessarily certain how that would work in any fair manner or if there's enough holders of policies that expensive to pay for subsidies. The devil is always in the details. I'm not expecting anything good from Dubya, including in the details about heatlh insurance taxation and subsidies.
It's like Social Security reform. I'm all for it -- despite the Democratic Party line -- but no way in hell am I for Bush's Social Security "reform" plan. The few details of Bush's Social Security "reform" plan that saw the light of day sounded more like a scheme to turn those funds over to Wall Street, remove any possibility of getting a decent Social Security check, and involved the government stealing your money which you had decided to invest through its stock-market scheme, leaving you considerably poorer than just continuing on with a half-broke Social Security system, its projected state in 15-30 years.
And so it goes with Bush's health care scheme. Let's see the details. I expect Bush to work in something to steal from the poor and middle class to give to his fat-cat friends. Of course, anything's possible. He may pull something out of his hat that serves interests beyond the ruling class, for once.
Christopher said:
I heard President Lunatic is proposing to change to how the tax code treats health insurance, by counting employer contributions toward health insurance as taxable income!
Like I said, the devil is in the details. However, I wouldn't automatically count this against whatever scheme Bush comes up with for health care. The truth is if we want any kind of health care reform at all, possibly including subsidies for people to buy insurance or even an outright national health care system, the money for it is going to have to come from somewhere. I'm not thrilled with paying more taxes, but let's see what that money would buy and how much they want to tax before dismissing it, as well as what the rules are about buying insurance.
I'm still expecting the worst, very skeptical of anything Bush does, but I'm willing to hear it out before dismissing it.
Posted by Brian Bell at January 23, 2007 07:37 AMgreenwald has a good post about the BS they're using to sell the iran war
also
Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link (LA Times)
British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran (WaPo)
Posted by benjoya at January 23, 2007 08:05 AMSpectacular! EmptyWheel over at Firedoglake live blogging Fitzgerald's opening statements to jury on Libby trial. If her blogging hits MSM, Bush can kiss the 28% goodbye as he slides into the teens.
The SOTU speech tonight may be a very interesting ride. Might be a good one to record. Just think of it, horribly alarming and EMBARRASSING poll numbers, and a counter speech from the guy who is at the TOP of your shit list. Picking Webb was brilliant. That move is so obvious and yet subtle at the same time, and so deliberately in-your-face. The tension the idiot son is experiencing must be very painful right now. For a narcissist, all this could be destablizing.
Posted by Julie at January 23, 2007 09:13 AMThanks, mainsailset! Marcy is doing an amazing job liveblogging. Go, Fitz!
Posted by iamcoyote at January 23, 2007 09:21 AMAm I reading these opening statements right, you guys---is Libby's lawyer arguing that Libby was set up [by whom?] to protect Rove? Is he arguing that Rove was the leaker, so why should Libby lie?
This seems incredible. I'm sure Deadeye will sort it all out for the jury! Talk about a witness with poor credibility....
Posted by euzoius at January 23, 2007 09:26 AMI'd definitely advise Nero to a couple of shots before he goes on tonight...that'll settle him down.
Posted by euzoius at January 23, 2007 09:29 AMThere was a segment on the talk radio station KPCC yesterday discussing the health care plan Bush will introduce tonight. Although I didn't hear the entire segment, I did hear the radio host say he thought this might be the first time "business and "labor" came out on the same side regarding the president's proposal. They are both against it.
Posted by Mec at January 23, 2007 09:37 AMHey, don't blame Texas. He was at 41% approval here back in November 2006. The only places he was above 50 at that point were Idaho (55) and Utah (55). The only other place where his positives outweighed his negatives was Wyoming (49-48).
Posted by norbizness at January 23, 2007 10:25 AMeuzoius,
You're reading it right.
This means if Libby's legal team is correct, Cheney lied to the Special Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, because Libby went to him and said he wouldn't be the fall guy to protect Karl Rove before Cheney spoke to Fitzgerald.
We may be looking at Cheney being forced to resign.
The wheels aren't coming off the cart, the entire house is collapsing! LOL!!!
Posted by Christopher at January 23, 2007 10:55 AMThanks, Christopher.
Sometimes I feel like I'm going insane in BushAmerica.
Posted by euzoius at January 23, 2007 11:31 AMI'll pop for a one way ticket to The Hague.
No need to. He already has one.
Posted by phidipides at January 23, 2007 10:10 PM