Bloodless Coup

his base would probably still love him if he woke up next to three dead hookers and dined on their bodies for breakfast while American buildings burned from terrorist attacks?

that's a rather vivid image. tough morning?

Well, the last section is obviously true ... I was just having a very hard time imagining what it would take for "the base" to get fed up with his policy failures. Those are becoming legion - but that doesn't seem to matter to many registered Republicans as long as he talks tough and folksy and touts how god-fearing a man he is.

I am having some trouble finding and deleting stuff that appears embedded in a Word document - but I don't think that's responsible for any images of dead hookers.

you're right, of course, about his core base, but there are plenty of registered republicans contributing to his 32% approval rating.

and that's the light at the end of the tunnel, long and dark though it may be: between the numbers, hackett, iran, and the lack of any prospects for improvement on the relevant front, the GOP will have either to abandon a sinking president rather conspicuously and loudly or they're going to lose some serious ground in the mid-terms, and probably in '08.

Joshua - That link says that the president's job approval rating is at 42% - far from good, but not 32%. And so ... well, it's possible things will change. Just last week I was chatting with a strongly Republican, strong Christian who is absolutely fed up with him over Iraq. But ... I don't know. Since it appears all Bush really values is politics and stickin' it to his personal enemies (just read the posts Ezra Klein has put up today) I don't know that I think his numbers will stay that low - know matter how badly he's screwing up the country.

it's the slope as much as the number that i find encouraging. only ike looked worse, taking only one year to fall the 50 points that it's taken bush 43 four years to fall. still, 50 points is a long way to fall, especially with such a steadily negative gradient.

and if i thought there was much chance of something going well for him, i'd be less optimistic. but what can he possibly improve before the mid-term? and after that he will be a lame duck, so all that delightful unity will start to evaporate as GOP aspirants start fracturing the party in an effort to present a(n at least superficially) unique candidacy.

as for the poll, i was incorrectly citing the Bush 41 number from the bar graph. oops.

Bush's approval rating will hit 32% or lower when gas is $5 a gallon.