Talk about a loaded question

OK, Breaking News from, of all places, CBS. Bush's approval ratings fell some more. OK, I really don't worked up about the polls from the media. Anyone can find a poll that supports what they want and any poll has enough flaws to be dismissed by those who disagree.

But two things popped into my mind as I read this. First the headline.

"Bush, Republican Congress Show Nearly Record Low Ratings"

This past weekend I was going through old audio clips looking for things to put into our new intro on the show. I came across an interview with Andy that I did several months ago (November I think). In it I asked him what he thought the GOP had to do to win in 2006. His response was basically to start acting like Republicans. They are indistinguishable from the Democrats and cannot win being that way. Since then Pawlenty warned fiscal conservatives that this session would be a long session and campaign rhetoric includes parsing what is "legal" versus what is "ethical". Indistinguishable. Since then the President has basically opened up the borders to illegals and the US Senate caved in by pushing for an amnesty program (incentive for future illegals to come to the country).

Using Andy's analysis (which I agree with) I think it is almost too late for the GOP to make the distinction in their policy. They will be left to campaign speeches to make their case...and I doubt that will be enough for them.

The other thing that caught my attention was this passage:

With the Iraq war, Mr. Bush's approval rating dropped one percentage point (from 30% to 29%) since last month. Similarly, only 30% of poll respondents said they have some degree of confidence Mr. Bush will be able to end the war successfully. The poll also reveals that 56% of those polled said that United States should have stayed out of Iraq; this number is the highest it's been since the start of the war.

I have no confidence that Bush will be able to end the war successfully because the war, to be done correctly, will last longer than Bush's term. If he ends the war then it will either be under miraculous circumstances OR done incorrectly and thus cannot be successful.

Talk about a loaded question.

Should we have even been in Iraq? Yes. And Iran is the reason. Syria is the reason. The truth be told (and I have been saying this for some time) Iraq's main purpose was to be a staging point for attacks on Iran and Syria. Those attacks are going to happen, those attacks must happen.

Back to the poll. It is a flawed poll...no news there. But it does give an indication that there is some serious discontent with Bush (myself included--I have never been a fan of his domestic policies in general) and with the GOP. How could approval of the GOP Controlled Congress be lower than even what percentage of the country self-identifies as GOP members? Because the GOP, in its effort to play for the middle of the spectrum, has alienated its base.

In case you missed that last link...the headline is "U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols". THAT is the type of domestic policy that will cause the base to question exactly which party is which.