America: We Don't Want a Bush Clone in '08

Flashback to Bush's Press Conference, 11/04/04:

I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.

Looks like he has spent it all:

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Three in five Americans want the next U.S. president to be completely different from incumbent George W. Bush, according to a poll by Time magazine.

[...]

The findings indicate Bush is failing to reverse flagging approval ratings after laying out his strategy for Iraq in a Nov. 30 speech. The poll showed 41 percent approve of the job Bush is doing while 53 percent disapprove, little changed from results in September after Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. Of those who disapprove, 76 percent said they were unlikely to change their opinion of Bush.

Ouch.

The rest of the numbers look just as dismal:

• 60% disapprove his handling of the war in Iraq (38% approve).

• 60% think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

• 51% said Iraq has worsened the danger of terrorist attacks against the U.S (41% said U.S. is safer).

• 50% said it was wrong for the U.S. to go to war (44% it was right).

• 48% think he misled the country to build the case for war in Iraq (45% said he was truthful).

• 47% said U.S. should withdraw from Iraq in the next 12 months (40% said they should stay until the Iraqi government is stable).

Poll results mean that his approval ratings remain at post-Katrina levels, with no bounce at all from his 11/30 Annapolis speech.

Recall that post-9/11, his approval ratings were as high as 90%.

Four years later, Iraq is a quagmire, Social Security privatization is dead, permanent tax cuts are a distant memory. Exactly what does he have to show for that steep 50% drop?

One more thing. When Bush and Cheney call the critics of the Iraq war "irresponsible" and "dishonest and reprehensible", I guess they also mean us, the majority of the American people.

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