Posted on 04/16/2006 6:50:10 AM PDT by veronica
President Bush’s approval rating is pretty low. He is behind car salesmen, but still ahead of journalists and Congress. A recent Gallup Poll found that only 37 percent of the public approves of the job he is doing as president.
Picky, picky, picky.
Now George W. Bush is too nice to say this, but maybe the problem is with the American people. We are a nation of ingrates.
Let me give you an example. The New York Times painstakingly examined the investment tax break and came up with a list of the counties that benefited most from this change in policy.
Among the chief beneficiaries was Marin County, Calif., outside of San Francisco.
How did Marin County voters show their appreciation? In 2004, 73 percent voted for John Kerry and 25 percent voted for Bush.
Come to think of it, the five most affluent states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and New York — all voted for Kerry.
At the other end of the scale, all 10 of the poorest states went with Bush in 2004.
Increasing the child tax credit to $1,000 and ending the marriage penalty helped drop taxes by an average of $1,083 in 2003 for the nation’s 92 million taxpayers.
And people saw the results in other ways. The unemployment rate shrank from 6.3 percent in 2003 to 5.1 percent in 2005 to 4.7 percent last month.
That is pretty good considering that the attacks of Sept. 11th knocked the stock market out for nearly a week and that oil prices rose to $70 a barrel.
It is even better when one considers the United States just lost a major city to Hurricane Katrina — or rather, New Orleans failed to properly maintain the levee system given it by American taxpayers.
Indeed, the same poll that found 60 percent disapprove of Bush’s handling of the economy found 59 percent of Americans rate the economic condition of the nation as good — and 60 percent said they expect that a year from now the economy will be good.
It is not the economy, stupid. It is the war.
Iraq is not so much Vietnam as it is Korea. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ran for president promising to end the war in Korea. He did.
Our troops are still there, as is our commitment. Americans surely knew going in that there would be a long-term commitment in Iraq.
In judging the Bush presidency, Americans must not overlook the No Child Left Behind reforms, which shifted the emphasis in education from the bureaucracy back to the child.
Much to my surprise, the convoluted Medicare prescription plan seems to be working. A survey showed three-quarters of those who signed up say they are saving money.
My guess is that 60 percent of them nonetheless would say Bush is doing a poor job handling the prescription program.
The war overwhelms all that, which is not surprising. I would guess that if Gallup asked, 60 percent would disapprove of his handling of the weather.
The president takes it in stride. Bush spoke at Johns Hopkins University earlier this month. He was asked about the polls and the protest.
“Yes, I hear the protests,” Bush said. “And I can understand why. I can understand why people are concerned about war. Nobody likes war, particularly me.
“I knew exactly what was going to happen when I committed these troops into harm’s way. I knew there would be — people would lose their life. And I knew I’d be trying to comfort mothers and fathers and grieving wives. I knew exactly what was coming.
“And if I didn’t think it was the right thing to do, I wouldn’t have sent them. And if I didn’t think we could succeed in Iraq, I’d pull them out.”
President Bush bet his presidency on Iraq. Like Harry Truman before him, Bush had no choice. States that sponsor terrorism must be brought in line.
Truman was not appreciated in his time. Bush is not appreciated now. Most of the time, the majority is right.
This is not one of those times.
Good read, thanks!!!!
I'd like to see that poll done.
Not an online poll, but an official "scientific" poll.
The results would be revealing.
Were they wrong when they voted for him, or are they only wrong when they disagree with the author? I'll bet when the polls agree with the author, he's got a few hackneyed cliches about the "wisdom of the American people ready to go."
Something else nobody notices and that is they don't tout their title to get personal bennies. Laura Bush went to Yosemite with friends back in the early 90s and she put her name on a waiting list. We know what Theresa Kerry or Hillary Clinton would have done in that same situation!
People today tend to live in the present and forget about the long haul. Solutions to some of our problems require the long haul approach.
It's the border, stupid. New York City is getting ready to pass legislation allowing illegals to vote in municipal elections. San Francisco is getting ready to do the same i some municipal elections. Any conservative who isn't behind the wall, opposes amnesty, and opposes guest workers simply doesn't understand what is at stake here.
No matter how low the President's poll numbers go, that of congress' will always be lower.
Hallelujah
If anyone can truly say that on September 11, 2001 they really thought that we would go five years without another major attack on the USA, they would have been committed.
I disagree, Bush is doing a terrible job and will rate as one of the worst presidents in US history.
We are in a time of war and being invaded by tens of millions of anti-american aliens, yet the last time I saw Bush, he was rock climbing with Vincente Fox.
I regret that I ever voted for Bush.
The xenophobic, isolationist right is blind. The obsession with immigration will sink the GOP if things continue this way. I am a lot less concerned about Mexicans than I am about Muslims. Mexicans did not fly planes into buildings on 9-11.
I didn't know Pat Buchanan had an account here.
Good one.
The Pat Buchanan right is as poisonous as the Daily Kos left. Same sort of mental cases, IMO.
By leaving out unpleasant details Don Surbur has actually justified the nation's displeasure with President Bush.
First he calls US a nation of "ingrates". It's Bush who is the "ingrate".
Surber's first order of business is to shoot down the misconception that "people don't vote for principle, they vote for whoever will give them the most 'pork'" while also illustrating that giving money back to us in and of itself doesn't make us "happy". Bush can't buy my vote or my support any more than he can buy the support of voters in Marin county.
And then he proceeds to illustrate why Bush blew it big time with Katrina. Bush rewarded the corrupt and irresponsible governments in NOLA and LA by giving them billions of our money and then put the blame on his FEMA director by firing him.
CODE BLUE!
Exactly what didn't you know about President Bush in Nov. 2004 that you now know today?
How interesting is the fact that Bush now has conservatives' wrath upon him, to go along with the visceral hatred from the left?
Is it perhaps because he's trying to be all things to all people?
Wait a minute, peoples! I know. He's a POLITICIAN! That's the ticket.
And you thought: "Here's a guy with principles, I'll vote for THAT".
Oh, well...Not the first time. Did he at least call you in the morning?
Eisenhower did not end the Korean War Stalin and Mao did.
That's like asking, "What did we know about 9/11 before it happened?"
Things change; what concerned many BEFORE 9/11 has become a MAJOR ISSUE after 9/11. When the President campaigned on being "serious about protecting Americans," a logical person would believe that would lead to SECURING OUR BORDERS. A logical person would believe that, after finding multitudes of Arabic literature abandoned on the southern U.S. border, after numerous arrests of Middle Eastern men who illegally crossed the POROUS OPEN BORDER, a wise man would change his course of leaving the back door wide open.
He hasn't.
You're excusing Bush's continued and consistent encouragement of lawbreakers, both to illegal aliens AND to their U.S. employers.
I don't.
I have found polls are often more a reflection of how well the Demorat MSM has influenced those being polled. This is one of those cases.
President Bush is one of the best presidents the nation has had.
I wonder if he will await the outcome of the next election to see if Republicans will maintain control of both houses of Congress before committing the nation to a war on Iran. If the Rats get control of Congress, I'm not sure President Bush will think it wise to correct ex-President Carter's catastrophic foreign policy blunders regarding Iran, and it will be left to some later President to respond to a nuclear attack by Iran.
I regret I voted for Bush.
Seems you have forgotten the 911 event.
Had John Kerry been elected there would have been more 911 in America and, in perhaps other countries.
How can you complain about President Bush when it is obvious
what the left has done and would do if they were in control?
If you count up the actual damage done by illegal Mexicans, they are pretty darn competitive with the Muslims. Just because they tend to do their damage one person at a time doesn't mean that overall they constitute no significant threat.
Then within 2 years all one hears everyday is discordant voices attacking the war, convincing us it was a "mistake" and you have more and more Americans who "tire" of hearing about it and would abandon our allies. Very disheartening..
Yes, MSM and dems are the worst culprits, but many people listen to them.
--Come to think of it, the five most affluent states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and New York — all voted for Kerry.
When I was married I saw some of the seedy underbelly of the wealthy and it changed my perspective on America for a time. Luckily I always knew Churchill was right when he said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. I did become more cynical though. I'm happier now as a simple middle class working stiff with no connections to the grubby little dealings of the rich.
Do you have a reliable source for this?
It's not that I don't agree that we should secure the border...we should. I just don't think that it's something we didn't know about Pres. Bush in 2004. I think his stand on illegal immigration has been clear for quite awhile, much to many's dismay.
Our southern border is a threat to our treasury and our penal system. I think the threat of terrorists coming here is much more of a possibility from our Northern border.
So, in prioritizing threats, you would vote for the side that wants to do both things that you don't like. Handing Iraq over to Al Queda AND NOT building a stupip fence on our southern border are sure to happen if you have your way with Bush.
If you are successful, my children are going to have two problems instead of one.
While Bush has been quite poor about communicating his message, and he has made mistakes, I think its important to recognize 2 basic facts here...
1) Most polls that are discussed on TV are done by liberal outlets, such as CNN, Time Magazine, Newsweek, etc... The majority of their consistent viewers are liberal and this skews their polling results.
2) Frankly, when it comes to politics, economics and world affairs, most of the american public is flatly clueless (Note: the same applies in Europe). I see this all the time at work... people just don't keep up with the news, they know almost nothing about economics and they couldn't find Iraq on a map of the middle east. Most of them can't even name the 3 branches of US government, and I am surrounded at the office by people with university degrees. When these people go on rants about Bush its pretty easy to shut them up.
The more polling "news" I read, the better I understand why Hannibal Lecter ate the census taker who tried to quantify him.
Ahmadinejad .. thanks again Jimmuh.
COMING TO AMERICA Arabic diary found near border
Couple discovers book in backpack dropped on their property Posted: February 13, 2003
An Arizona couple has discovered a diary written in Arabic in a backpack apparently dropped on their property by an illegal alien entering the U.S., reports the Sierra Vista Herald Review....Resident Finds Backpack w/Arabic Notebook (short Title)
Hereford, AZ -- It is not unusual to find backpacks near their home, but a local man and his wife were surprised to find one that contained a diary written in Arabic.....TERRORISTS DON'T STOP AT THE RIO GRANDE
Ok, all you open-borders Pollyannas on both the left and right. Here is yet another example of terrorists traipsing across our southern border that you will no doubt ignore.Meet Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. Federal News Radio reports:
She was stopped at McAllen Miller International Airport on July 19 headed to New York.
Eddie Flores of the U.S. Border Patrol office in McAllen, Texas tells FederalNewsRadio.com that a review of her papers raised some concerns.
"In looking at her documents, they did not find any entry documents in her passport where she was legally admitted into the United States," says Flores.
Ahmed produced a South African passport to the agents with four pages torn out, and with no U.S. entry stamps. Ahmed reportedly later confessed to investigators that she entered the country illegally by crossing the Rio Grande River. Ahmed was carrying travel itineraries showing a July 8 flight from Johannesburg, South Africa to London. Six days later, Ahmed traveled from London to Mexico City before attempting to travel from McAllen to New York.
* * *
The Tombstone Tumbleweed reports "that a flood of middle-eastern males have been caught entering the country illegally east of Douglas, Arizona. The increased patrols in the Huachuca Mountains area of Cochise County, seems to have diverted the flow of OTM's, "other than Mexicans" east to the Chiricahua Mountains." While a Border Patrol information officer publicly denied the reports, another agent told the publication that "the men were suspected to be Iranian or possibly Syrian nationals."
"Other than Mexicans"
By Chris Kelly · May 23, 2005 07:16 PM
...there are uncorroborated law enforcement reports suggesting that associates of al Qaeda used smugglers in Latin America to travel through the region in 2002 before traveling onward to the United States...Other Than Mexicans...One smuggler, Salim Boughader-Mucharrafille, smuggled Lebanese nationals sympathetic to Hamas and Hizbollah into the United States and relied on corrupt Mexican officials in Beirut, Mexico City and Tijuana to facilitate their travel...
PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 2, 2004
Are terrorists entering the United States through Arizona's border with Mexico?...
It's been a summer of media whispers that keep getting louder.Arab terrorists 'are getting into the US over Mexican border'· In early August, the Washington Times reported that al-Qaeda is allying with Mexican organized crime groups to infiltrate the United States via Mexico.
· In late July, ABC News reported that the Border Patrol had arrested a woman named Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. The arrest was made at McAllen-Miller airport in South Texas, where Ahmed was attempting to board a flight to New York. She acknowledged that smugglers brought her across the Rio Grande from Mexico; the FBI declared Ahmed a "person of interest."
· Congressman Solomon Ortiz, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, was quoted in the Brownsville Herald as saying that Mexicans with possible terrorist ties have been detained after entering the country from Mexico, but are being released for lack of jail space. "It's very, very scary," said Ortiz.
· On Los Angeles radio station KFI AM's John and Ken Show, Congressman John Culberson, a Texas Republican, said federal prosecutors had told him that Middle Eastern men with al-Qaeda links are adopting Hispanic names, acquiring fake Mexican ID cards and mixing with the stream of illegals coming across our southern border. They're choosing this route, he said, because the screening process for incoming airline passengers is increasingly effective.
· The Chicago Tribune recently reported on the arrest of Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, a Tijuana, Mexico café owner, on charges of smuggling Arabs into this country. The Tribune wrote that the case set off alarm bells among U.S. security officials, because it illustrated the vulnerability of the U.S.-Mexico border.
· Two Arab men, Ali Safia and Can Azif--whose names scored hits on U.S. watch lists--arrived in Mexico City in the winter of 2003 on one-way tickets from Europe, reported the Dallas Morning News. While in Europe, they also had purchased one-way tickets for a flight from the western Mexican city of Culiacan to Los Angeles. The pair failed to show up for the flight and have not been seen since, the paper said.
· In mid-August, the Arizona Daily Star reported that officials had issued an alert for al-Qaeda cell leader Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, who they thought might cross from Mexico into the United States through Arizona or Texas. Two days later, the alert was jerked back. Maybe he's not coming after all, but Shukrijumah is still missing. A reward of up to $5 million is out for his capture.
Over the past month, border agents from Arizona and Texas have anonymously reported recent encounters with dozens of Arab men, who have made their way across the 2,000-mile Mexican border.Investigators: Terrorist AlleyPatrol agents told one Arizona newspaper that 77 males "of Middle Eastern descent" were apprehended in June in two separate incidents. All were trekking through the Chiricahua mountains and are believed to have been part of a larger group of illegal immigrants. Many were released pending immigration hearings. According to Solomon Ortiz, the Congressman for Corpus Christi in Texas, similar incidents are "happening all over the place. It's very, very scary".
In August, The Investigators on Eyewitness News 4 first reported the possible threat of terrorists crossing the Arizona/Mexico border into the U.S. Now, we've uncovered more evidence the threat along our border is real.Al Qaeda-Linked Middle Eastern Men Infiltrating Via Southern Border, Using Fake Mexican ID, NamesIllegals from terrorist nations are crossing the border into Arizona.
Tom McNamara and the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators have spent the last three months talking to experts and eyewitnesses.
The stories are compelling and the evidence is frightening, and just this week, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo released a report showing that the problem is worse than anyone thought.
Here's what the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators uncovered.
"It's a Muslim prayer blanket. It was found about a mile and a half west from the Douglas port of entry in 2001."...
Posted on 07/16/2004 5:51:28 PM PDT by John Jorsett
Congressman John Culberson (R - TX), speaking on the John and Ken show in Los Angeles, tells the hosts that he's now authorized, for the first time anywhere, to disclose that Middle Eastern men with Al Qaeda links have been mixing with the stream of illegal aliens coming in via the Southern US border. Having changed their names from Islamic to Hispanic ones, and having obtained authentic Mexican Matricula Consular ID cards using faked Mexican birth certificates, the men are paying up to $30,000 to obtain entry into the US among the flow of Hispanic illegal aliens crossing....Border Security: Apprehensions of "Other Than Mexican"Aliens [PDF FILE]
"According to a Border Patrol spokesman from the Del Rio Sector, 'word is out that we are unable to detain the other than Mexican crossers, and they are exploiting a bottleneck in the system.'"
* * * Over the past three years, OTM apprehensions have more than tripled nationwide and have been concentrated along the South Texas border. The reasons for this dramatic increase, and its geographical concentration in Texas, are not altogether clear. [ONLY TO IDYOTS and PRO OBL]
Ver good read
So right about the threat of the "immigration only" people. I have noticed so many threads that have nothing to do with immigration turn into anti illegal immigration threads. Its like there is some conspiracy afoot to flood conservative alt media and take it by force. We have seen many of these folks call for Bush's impeachment for goodness sake.
This article makes a great case for what I have believed for some time. If people have a problem with Bush on immigration then I must say he never hid his position from them. Its time after this immigration debate ends and we have some sort of conclusion for all to get behind this President.
He's supposed to have the BEST INTERESTS of AMERICA FIRST. Not HIS agenda. Things have changed. Much to MY DISMAY, he isn't. He's bound and determined to continue to let in millions of illegal aliens, including terrorists.
It only took 19 Middle Easterners, who were all here illegally (whether through false or expired documents), to kill thousands of Americans.
I'm not giving Bush a pass. It's a shame so many Americans are so willing to sacrifice innocent American lives, American jobs, its health care system, education, Social Security benefits, and law enforcement officers to further their blind idolation of a man.
Amen to that!
Bush's "loss of popularity" doesn't translate into support for Democrats. Democrats hate him because, well, he's not a Democrat. Those percentages haven't changed (other than the fact that Dems continue to bleed Christians). Republicans are mad at him because he's too nice to Democrats. Some are disappointed because he has, in effect, enacted the DNC's program. Sometimes as a ploy, sometimes out of conviction; thats who he is.
Republicans who are mad at him for not being Republican enough skews the polls, and the chatterers are eating it up. But they should not take any false hope from it; more-conservative-than-thou Repubs aren't going to be crossing over to pull the lever for Clinton II.
LOL! Made me spit my coffee on the screen! Hmmm, I wonder if Zogby runs around with a clipboard?
Bad history. Eisenhower ran on the pledge, "I will go to Korea." The implication was the revered five star Supreme Allied Commander would straighten out the mess once he had a first hand grip on the situation. He did not run on a plank to "end the war," to my knowledge. It wouldn't have helped him if he did. We didn't think that way back then.
What debate? Bush closed all debate in 2000. He never brought this issue up for a debate before the GOP.
He was hell bent on creating a "new America". If I had known about this speech I would not have voted for him.
| We are now one of the largest Spanish-speaking nations in the world. We're a major source of Latin music, journalism and culture. Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago or West New York, New Jersey ... and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago, or San Miguel de Allende. For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America. As I speak, we are celebrating the success of democracy in Mexico. George Bush from a campaign speech in Miami, August 2000. |
Here is an excerpt of a good critique of that speech:
In equating our intimate historic bonds to our mother country and to Canada with our ties to Mexico, W. shows a staggering ignorance of the civilizational facts of life. The reason we are so close to Britain and Canada is that we share with them a common historical culture, language, literature, and legal system, as well as similar standards of behavior, expectations of public officials, and so on. My Bush Epiphany By Lawrence Auster
Well I guess my point is that Bush has never hidden his stance any on this issue. I can remember when he said he wasnt thrilled about Prop 187. So, I can not fault his individual integrity on a position that he has held pretty well since the days he was Gov of Texas. Many people assume that these voters will be Dems. Bush got huge percentages of the Hispanic vote when he was Governor. Its prob the reason he is President today.
It appears you didn't read the article. The last two lines: "Most of the time, the majority is right. This is not one of those times."
Meanwhile, back in the 90s, the argument on the right was that Americans were wrong to approve of Klintoon on the basis of the economy when there were other issues to be considered. Seems now they want to have Americans judge GWB on the economy. And this guy can argue all he wants that the RX plan is "working." But just because subscribers are saving money doesn't mean taxpayers are.
GW was an obvious choice in 04. But judged on his own merits since 04...well, what has he accomplished since 04? Only thing I can think of is two SCOTUS appointments, and one of those was only after a self-inflicted, and still inexplicable debacle.
I am not sure of the percentages in Texas but he only got about 40% of the hispanic vote nationwide. It begs the question "What will the next GOP candidate have to promise to maintain that 40%? Also, does ignoring your base to garner a small percentage of the overall vote mean you are going to win? While Bush alienates millions of GOP voters to gain a tiny amount from the hispanics what does that do to the future of the GOP?
At this point I don't care anymore. The GOP is not a conservative party by any stretch of the imagination.
Bush has disappointed on other issues as well. If there was a better candidate then Bush I would have voted for him. But Bush knew that idea of either a Kerry or Gore presidency would be abhorrent to people like me and he banked on that.
Like many others I voted against Gore and Kerry not necessarily for Bush.
One of Bush and Rove's ambitions was to begin the process of peeling Hispanic and Black American voters away from the Democratic Party.
You will never get a majority of either, but in a 50-50 electorate, you only need a few to permanently tip the political balance of power.
The fact that he was able to claim 40% of hispanic votes in some areas was huge, considering that usually Repubs could count on no more than 20 or 25%. He did this primarily with happy talk, just speaking respectfully about hispanics.
The Democrats see this, and have gone spastic over it. That is what is behind the marches and the general craziness in Congress right now. They have to reverse the trend, they have to paint Repubs as the "anti-hispanic" party. They are doing what they always do, which is to play ethnic politics, race politics. Its the only game they know.
If they succeed, they can regain the White House for a generation. Its hard to beat ethnic politics with color-blind politics, but thats what we're up against.
The idea of America as a racist country is a Democratic Party meme, their survival as a political party depends on it. The US admits, legally, with full permanent residency, 200,000 Mexicans every year. Not once, in all of the press hysteria about the issue will you hear that number. It is more important to convince hispanic voters that they are a victim class, in need of DNC protection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.