Posted on 01/10/2005 8:30:43 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush got high marks for his handling of the tsunami disaster, and his job approval rating went up in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, but most of those surveyed had doubts about his call to overhaul Social Security.
Bush's job approval rating went up to 52 percent in the poll, which was conducted Friday through Sunday in phone calls to 1,008 adult Americans. That's an improvement of 3 percentage points from the last CNN poll, taken in mid-December.
Another 44 percent said they disapproved of his job performance, down 2 percentage points from the December 17-19 survey. The latest poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Bush got his highest marks in a year on his handling of the economy, with 50 percent of those polled saying they approved of his performance.
He also got high marks for his handling of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, with 75 percent of respondents saying they approved of the way he handling it.
But only 42 percent of those surveyed said they approved of his handling of the war in Iraq, and 56 percent disapproved.
And 52 percent said they disapproved of his handling of Social Security -- an issue Bush has called on Congress to tackle in his second term.
Only 41 percent said they approved of Bush's desire to revamp Social Security, on which he has promised to spend the "political capital" he earned from his November election victory.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
He's probably still telling Kerry "Courage."
The only thing stalling the Bush agenda is Democrat filibusters in the Senate... the MSM still doesn't get it. After all they did to try (and fail) to swing the election to Kerry, they still don't get the fact that they're increasingly irrelevant.
Do you think Rather told Mary Mapes "Courage" on her way out the door at cBS today?? I doubt it... ;-)
Well 54% against President bush - in the USA poll - says something -
I'm glad to see someplace included the topic in the poll. Don't believe it is as little as 'some' want others to believe. When NJ starts a fuss - that's interesting -
Only if her pet dog's name is Courage, and if she wanted Courage to stay around, Mary'd better not give any interviews...
I agree that immigration is hurting GW with the base. Immigration and spending are the two issues where he is weakest with me. The fact is is that only a minority of the population consider it to be an important issue.
I'm fairly sure that President Dubya knew this would be a hard sell. That's why the Clintons punted the issue.
History will reward President Bush for the political courage to tackle a steadily compounding problem, even though longer-term gains are not readily observable to Ma and Pa Kettle.
Dubya showed the same courage instituting tax cuts while staring at the bared teeth of the Clinton recession. (And won.)
I guess you just have to be in a place - no matter the shade of skin or job - the med. cost impact is also interesting
O'Reilly was saying a higher percent when he checked on the issue with his viewers - also the CNN guy used a higher % - don't believe either sunk to a level of talking about race or job as a factor - All Americans should be against people coming here by breaking our laws -
I also found this post from someone(forget who) the other day interesting. (A good read) It sure seems that this is what is happening today with all the illegals - :
"America's Demise ????"
"We all know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant."
"Last week there was an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders."
"A brilliant college professor named Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, 'Mexifornia,' explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal - was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream."
"Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America."
"The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, 'If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do."
"No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"
"'Here is how they do it,' Lamm said: "
"First to destroy America, 'Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.' "
"'The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.' "
"Lamm went on: "
"Second, to destroy America, 'Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.' "
"Third, 'We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. "
"As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.' "
Lamm said, 'I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.' "
"'Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.' "
"'My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' "
"I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.' "
"'My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. "
"Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together."
"Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty."
"Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to over come two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. 'E. Pluribus Unum' -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'unum,' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.' "
"'Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits -- make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century -- that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate."
"Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' "
"I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.' "
"In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed."
"Finally he said,
"'Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book.' "
"There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today."
"Every discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.'"
"American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book '1984.' "
"In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: 'War is peace,' 'Freedom is slavery,' and 'Ignorance is strength.' "
"Governor Lamm, walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast."
"If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream."
Well hopefully the President stays the course and follows his heart instead of the polls.
I still think it's higher too, but what really ticks me off are the people who can approve one week then disapprove the next. These wishy washy limp weenies are the reason why elections are so messy. Can't these people please develop a spine and show some conviction one way or the other?
Although ET is probably less biased and runs fewer fraudulent stories :-).
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