RE “Public support for prescription-drug benefits ranges from 80 to 90 percent. And every Bush policy conservatives favor is regarded by the public with great suspicion. “
There is some truth to this. That’s why a great communicator is important. I also think the way the Iraq war turned out had a big negative effect. The bottom line, I will support SOME compromises if it results in an overall conservative congress and white house. But Bush caved and is hated anyway and lost congress in 06 and probably the white house in 08. He has made the job more difficult, much more.
This is what happens when Conservatives let Newsweak and the rest of the junk media do their thinking for them. Iraq was not one of the Democrats "6 for 06" strategy. In fact, because they were deliberately vague on Iraq the whole time they were on the stump in 06, no one was actually sure what the Democrats plan for Iraq was. What they DID do was run against "A DC Culture of Corruption" that Republican Congress leadership did nothing about.
It was only after the election the Leftist media, able aided by Conservatives who were to busy screaming at their own side to fight the Democrats on anything, manufactured this mythology about 06 being a referendum on Iraq.
The proof that Iraq is not the major issue for people outside US "News rooms" it is claimed to be is the current approval ratings. Bush has been rock solid on Iraq, his approval rating has been rock solid. Congress, who has done nothing for the last year but fight with Bush over Iraq, has seen it's approval rating drop from 50% to a record breaking 11% in the same period.
Iraq turned negative because the hippie illiterates like Couric, Rather, CNN, MSNBC, and even FNC only reported negative. They ARE literally working against the usa. Abraham Lincholn would have locked them up, and FDR would have stored them in canada.