CNN Poll - Most unpopular president

[Hostels]

An interesting story on CNN:

Excerpt:

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president.

"No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup Poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director.

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider adds, "[George Bush] is more unpopular than Richard Nixon was just before he resigned from the presidency in August 1974."

I think history is going to treat Bush very badly...

[gordo]

hands up if you're surprised...

really? no takers?

people are going to look back and scratch their heads thinking 'wtf were they thinking? twice!?!?'

[santa klaus]

It depends how you measure success.

George Wanker Bush comes from the oil industry. The price of oil has tripled during his terms [i assume the worth of his stock assets, too]. Isn´t that a success, at least for himself?

He made a lot of people very rich - the same ones who made his "election" possible in the first place. Bush was an incredible success for them.

Gordo makes a good point: WTF were they thinking, twice? Nothing, apparently. Bush is just a tool. History will treat America very badly.

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by santa klaus

Gordo makes a good point: WTF were they thinking, twice? Nothing, apparently. Bush is just a tool. History will treat America very badly.

I think you are probably right... but I hope that the story of the election machines will come out... because I don't think that people voted him into office.

Did anyone see this recent story?

"...right after Pope Benedict concluded his remarks, Bush leaned over and said, 'Thank you, your holiness. Awesome speech.' "

[santa klaus]

Err...

is that the confederate flag behind the pope?




WTF?


To me, it doesn´t atually matter too much with how much fraud he got into office. Enough people elected him.

Bush will end up as a footnote in history books. Forrest-Gump-style movies will be made about him in a few decades and people will wonder "this can´t be a true story, can it?" while the story isn´t that ramarkable at all, if you think of it. America has a habit of electing lunatics into office - here is a totally forgotten example of another one of that kind.

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by santa klaus

is that the confederate flag behind the pope?

I think it's the top corner of the Mississippi flag.

Originally Posted by santa klaus

To me, it doesn´t atually matter too much with how much fraud he got into office. Enough people elected him...

I don't think that Bush had the support that the media said he had. I was in Fort Lauderdale for the past two elections and it was dirty.

An overview here (highly recommended reading).

Excerpt:

Nearly half of the 6 million American voters living abroad(3) never received their ballots -- or received them too late to vote(4) -- after the Pentagon unaccountably shut down a state-of-the-art Web site used to file overseas registrations.(5) A consulting firm called Sproul & Associates, which was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in six battleground states,(6) was discovered shredding Democratic registrations.(7) In New Mexico, which was decided by 5,988 votes,(8) malfunctioning machines mysteriously failed to properly register a presidential vote on more than 20,000 ballots.(9) Nationwide, according to the federal commission charged with implementing election reforms, as many as 1 million ballots were spoiled by faulty voting equipment -- roughly one for every 100 cast.(10)

The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush's victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.(11)

[...]

But what is most anomalous about the irregularities in 2004 was their decidedly partisan bent: Almost without exception they hurt John Kerry and benefited George Bush.

Also, if it weren't for the "gay marriages" trick that the Republicans pulled, many of those Bush supporters would have stayed home and not voted.

Originally Posted by santa klaus

America has a habit of electing lunatics into office...

The US is not the only country with crazy politicians though
I think the masses (in any country) are easily manipulated.

I'm not that familiar with European politics, but one example that I can think of is the large amount of support for Haider (still a Governor in Austria) and the Freedom Party. I think it was almost 30% support. I don't think that is very far from the true support of Bush during the last elections...

[santa klaus]

Originally Posted by Hostels

The US is not the only country with crazy politicians though
I think the masses (in any country) are easily manipulated.

I disagree. Of course, there is a lunatic voted into office once in a while (e.g. in London last week), but in America that seems to happen on a very regular basis.

On the other hand, remember Spain: When Aznar tried to pull the terrorist trick (he blamed the Madrid bombings on ETA) the electorate instantly smelled the stench and elected Zapatero.

Originally Posted by Hostels

I'm not that familiar with European politics, but one example that I can think of is the large amount of support for Haider (still a Governor in Austria) and the Freedom Party. I think it was almost 30% support. I don't think that is very far from the true support of Bush during the last elections...

Yes, very embarrassing. Far-right parties consistently get around 15% in Austria. Haider´s best result was 27%. It was when everybody here was really frustrated about the "grand coalition" of the conservatives and social democrats. Apart from the greens, Haider was the only opposition. His support collapsed quite rapidly though when his party came into power (withthe conservatives, who also had 27%). His party was reduced to 4.1% in the last election.

[Hostels]

Regarding the question "wtf were they thinking? twice!" -- I don't think the average American can be blamed for what happened. I think there is a lot of evidence that Bush did not win the elections or even have anywhere near the 50% mark.

It's true that there are many highly embarrassing aspects of America, but I highly doubt that Americans voted Bush into office in either election...

[santa klaus]

Look, even in the rigged election in March 1933, Hitler didn´t get more than 43.9%.


Everybody knows Bush stole the first election and most likely the second, too. Still, it´s embarrassing that so many people elected him. And that so many others don´t vote at all - you know, people have died for the right to vote. Why isn´t there somebody telling them it´s un-patriotic to not vote?

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by santa klaus

Everybody knows Bush stole the first election and most likely the second, too.

I think definitely the 2nd also

Originally Posted by santa klaus

Still, it´s embarrassing that so many people elected him. And that so many others don´t vote at all - you know, people have died for the right to vote. Why isn´t there somebody telling them it´s un-patriotic to not vote?

Good points...
There are many people here saying those things though...

Not everyone is sitting around doing nothing, but unfortunately too many people are.