GOP learns Bush, gasp, is the problem (Houston Chronicle)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/2441635

Like antsy dogs before an earthquake, some Republicans sensed trouble. They were barking about the deficit, chasing their tails over the immigration proposal. A number had even begun baying about Vice President Dick Cheney. But when the tremor struck Monday (on the evening news) and the strong aftershocks continued Tuesday (in the morning newspapers), the party seemed astonished at the real cause of their prescient unease: President Bush.

The White House and Republicans came face-to-face with a pair of new national surveys that not only show Democrat John Kerry leading the president in the horse-race question (For whom would you vote if the election were held today?) but also find Bush trailing even more distantly in other key measures of voters' underlying sentiments. Taken together, the surveys are much more dire news than the White House had been predicting and for which it has been struggling to steel the faithful.

Perhaps the worst news for Bush and the Republicans was a question in the Washington Post-ABC survey (1,202 adults, Thursday-Sunday) that asked: "Which of these two statements comes closest to your own views: A. After four years of George W. Bush, we need to elect a president who can set the nation in a new direction. B. We need to keep the country moving in the direction Bush has taken us." Same direction got 41 percent, new direction 57 percent. Two percent, bless their indecisive hearts, expressed no opinion.

That is the type of Bush-specific finding that defies malinterpretation by the wiliest of White House spinmeisters. A clear majority of Americans say (at least at the moment) that they are looking for something different. It is one growing deficit the administration will kiss off at its peril. It is a finding that does not meld well with the overarching Bush campaign themes of steadiness and staying the course. What if the course is one on which Americans do not wish to stay?

[unblock]

1. puts to lie the whole 'approval', 'popular' crap

while bush was wildly adored by a small core of fanatics, he has been equally loathed by his opposition.

more importantly, the vast middle, who pushed his 'approval' numbers into the 90s, never felt more than giving the benefit of the doubt to an untested, only-president-we've-got in a time of crisis. a mile wide and an inch deep.

and now it's just quicksand. no escape for shrub.

[Manix]

2. Hope this can hold up till November.

nt