Before the SOTU, I couldn’t believe that Bush would get a bounce in the polls:
I simply can think of nothing the President could say that would change my mind about President Bush or this administration. Perhaps things will work out in the Middle East, and thirty years from now when I am nearing retirement, historians will have a glowing review of the Bush administration. Right now, though, from my perspective, this administration, regardless what happens in the next few years, will always be remembered as eight years of missed opportunities.
I am telling you this because it turns out to be one of those rare occasions I was right (h/t Andrew Sullivan):
Four organizations have now reported conventional national surveys since the State of the Union, and collectively they show little or no movement in the job rating of President George Bush. Once again, the annual address to Congress has produced no “bounce.”
Go check out the figures yourself. Hardly surprising- I think people pretty much have their mind made up about this administration. I sure have.
BTW- New category for posts like this titled “I Love Me,’ partially inspired by this and this.
Pooh
Glad to inspire. A vote for Pooh is a vote for progress.
Pb
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Jim Allen
While it certainly does my heart good to see that there was no bounce at all (in fact, didn’t it go down from 41% to 39%? whatever), I have to admit some surprise that there wasn’t even a temporary bounce of a few points. Seems almost tradional that there’s some upward swing, no matter how brief, regardless of what else is going on.
Ryan S
Just goes to show even the most eloquent words still can’t disguise a stinking pile of sh!t.
Jorge
The miracle is that they kept the wheels from coming off this junk heap of an administration through almost 5 years. Again, had Bush tried to privatize social security in 2004 we’d have a different POTUS.
Richard 23
I wasn’t expecting a bounce.
I’m still waiting for the plop.
Bob In Pacifica
Isn’t there an expression, “dead cat bounce”?
Geoduck
How does the old song go..?
“I love me
I love me
I’m mad about myself!”
Paddy O'Shea
John,
As I so helpfully posted elsewhere, the new Gallup Poll shows Bush’s numbers actually going DOWN after the SOTU fib fest. The question that I have is what does Bush do now? All his old tried and true tactics no longer work.
Here is the attachment to the Gallup findings. His approval falls from the low 40s to 39%.
cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/13/poll.iran/index.html
ppGaz
Nobody watched the friggin SOTU. How would he get a bounce?
Bush is not a lame duck, he’s a dead duck, as far as having any basis for governing at this point. Just like we said he would be, a year ago.
Which is what Whittington said during Saturday’s hunt, and Cheney responded, “I’ll show you a lame duck, motherfucker!” Blam!
Krista
Marvellous! Why the hell not, right?
The Other Steve
When you’re right… you’re right!
A friend of mine who voted for Bush in 2000, noted after the 2004 election. Well, now they’ve got what they want. They either put up, or shut up.
searp
Next we will hear from the Silent Minority. Kind of Nixon, but with a twist.
Fledermaus
Yeah. After about 5 or 6 of seeing him say all these cool and wonderful things that are going to happen in the next year, but somehow never do, why would anyone bother?
Brian
Wow. What a brilliant comment, that people have made up their mind about this Administration. Although Bush has been in office over 5 years now, I would never have thought that to be enough time for people to make up their minds. Thanks for sharing that brilliance of yours with us mere web readers.
Digital Amish
After 5 years of bullshit why would anybody start believing him now, SOTU or no SOTU. He has never governed for anybody but the top quintile of the population. He’s done nothing but make the quality of life for the other 80% more tenuous.
Tad Brennan
Hey, now. Don’t hassle John for saying “people have made up their minds about this administration”. It’s not an empty or vacuous claim. It’s not an uncontroversial claim, or one that goes without saying.
In fact, so far from being an obvious claim, I think it’s false. I think there are still quite a lot of people who are going to change their minds about Bush in the next 2.5 years. Namely, a good half of the people who still say they support him.
You see, the guy was a complete con from the start–support for him was egg-shell fragile, and depended on turning a willful blind eye to his many defects, because you felt it was your patriotic duty to rally around the Prez. But for most people not employed by the RNC, the scales eventually fall from the eyes. And then there’s no going back again. John is a good case in point–it took him a lot of years, but the scales finally dropped, and they’ll never go back up again.
So: everyone who sees what a hollow pathetic midget he is? Yup, their minds are made up, and all of the new evidence is just going to confirm it. People who are still trying to pretend he is a leader worthy of a great country? Their minds are not at all made up. Their minds are going to be changing, all over the country, until his approval ratings are down into the 20’s.
Except, of course, for the people suffering irreversible Bush Derangement Syndrome, i.e. the deranged belief that he has any competence or credibility.
CaseyL
Tad, I’d be delighted if Bush’s approval rating went down into the 20-odd percent – because that would mean the percentage of irrevocably insane people in this country was considerably less than I thought it was (I put Bush’s irreducible support at 35-40%).
However, Bush’s ratings at this point are kind of irrelevant. The electorate, even were 80% of it to turn against him, is powerless to do anything about it. Bush will continue to rule as he wishes, do what he wants, up to and and including starting more wars if he wants to. Only Congress can stop him (and only by impeachment and removal from office) and it has no intention of doing so – at least, not unless Democrats take at least one House of Congress in 2006.
My concern nowadays has less to do with Bush, more to do with the metavirus called “Bush Derangement Syndrome” which has had 5 years to establish itself in the citizenry. The Syndrome is as much about people deciding they enjoy living under an authoritarian personality cult as it is about Bush. My concern is that the GOP will nominate another pliable, corrupt figurehead (Allen, f’r instance; or Jeb), and peddle the same toxic swill it’s been peddling, and the American people will buy it again.
It’s not enough to be rid of Bush. We need to be rid of the combination of fear, ignorance, bigotry, and sheer stupidity that allowed him to win last November’s election, and which will simply transfer itself to the next mountebank the GOP offers up.
Zifnab
People change and people forgive. As crazy as it sounds, it’s still not too late for Bush to recover (or at least cover up) the failings of this administration. Approval ratings have to be continuously depressed to stay this low. One does not develop a truly low opinion of a person without years of ingraining. The fact is that if Bush would just stop being such a bastard, people would eventually learn to live with him and not complain.
This is especially true when we’re faced with the reality that we can’t remove him from office.
The only reason Bush’s numbers are perpetually low is because he is perpetually in trouble.
Paddy O'Shea
Rasmussen Poll had a 3 point “correction” today.
Funny how after a Gallup Poll comes out Rasmussen suddenly takes a sharp turn towards reality.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com
The Other Steve
I don’t think that’s possible. His biggest drag is Iraq. Not much he can do there. If he pulls us out, he’ll lose a lot of his strong support, and he won’t gain anything from those who don’t like him.
Although, actually I’ll bet if he pulled out those who suffer from Bush Delusion Syndrome would probably defend his decision.