Brain food from the latest Newsweek poll:
1a/b. To begin, suppose the elections for U.S. CONGRESS were being held TODAY ... Would you vote for the Republican Party's candidate or the Democratic Party's candidate (ROTATE) for Congress in your district? [IF OTHER/UNDECIDED, RESPONDENTS WERE ASKED] As ofTODAY, do you LEAN more toward... the Republican or the Democrat(ROTATE)?
BASED ON REGISTERED VOTERS
Rep/Lean Rep Dem/Lean Dem Undecided/Other
Current Total 38 50 12 =100
38% would vote GOP. That's the magic number. That's Bush's approval rating. And that is what's going to win us back Congress in 2006.
Let's look at the rest of the poll numbers, and see what picture emerges. 66% are dissatisfied with the way things are going in our country. 52% don't trust Bush to make the right decision during a crisis. 49% say the Iraq war was wrong. 48% say Bush is bungling up on homeland security AND terrorism.
The Newsweek poll is just that...a poll. But you don't have to go further than this picture to confirm the fact that the Bush Presidency is essentially getting the crap kicked of it at this time.
For five years now, I've watched Democrats react to the Bush administration. I say react because--with rare exceptions--most Democratic stances and politics these last years has been defensive, rather than offensive. Bush moves, Dems react. Social Security, Bolton, Patriot Act, etc.
What this poll and others showing Bush's freefall prove is that finally, the political environment is such that Democrats can afford to be proactive, rather than reactive.
BUSH IS BANKRUPT
After being sworn in, Bush arrogantly proclaimed he earned "political capital, and I intend to spend it." Six months after that statement, Republicans and Democrats alike figured that capital was being rapidly spent. Now, poll numbers clearly show Bush is bankrupt. His numbers are essentially down to his rabidly conservative, worship-anything-with-a-(R)-after-its-name base.
It is /now/, with Bush both a lame duck and a pauper in the political capital department, that the Democrats should force him to...well, cash another check and see that baby bounce.
When Bush announced his second term agenda, the media proclaimed it to be "bold", "daunting" and "sweeping". Bush--and more specifically his political circle--will not let go of those "big ideas" announced in December 2004. Why? Simply put, they're stubborn little fuckers, and they'd rather put up a dirty fight than wave a white flag one year into a second term.
Thus, as recently as Aug. 31st, we see Bush still giving CPR to his Social Security piratization plan. His promised tax reform has been postponed, but Delay still gushes that it will get passed.
If there is one thing the Bush administration has mastered near perfectly, it is convincing the American people they know what they're doing when in reality they're freaking out cluelessly behind the scenes. With poll numbers for both the President and the Republicans at 38%, the Democrats need to pull back the curtain.
Us political junkies have known for years how utterly incompetent this administration is. Yet they have managed to manufacture a level-headed, "daddy will take care of everything" image that convinced Americans they were in good hands.
In pushing his second term agenda, Bush will continue to act like his party can best take care of our nation, economically (tax cuts, Social Security) and physically (terrorism). We'll see him go across the country, spending political capital he just doesn't have anymore, thinking that if he just acts like a good leader, if he sticks to the script, then people will eventually accept that fact.
YO, DEMOCRATS. "KATRINA CHANGED EVERYTHING."
After 9/11, the GOP capitalized on the fear that gripped our nation. Every soccer mom from New York to Bumblefuck, Arkansas felt like Osama himself was going to ride a 747 right into her Martha Stewart living room.
Today, Americans are still afraid. Not so much of being blown up by a suicide bomber, but of being laid off. Of having enough money for the kids' tuition. Of having this feeling of 'uneasiness'.
Katrina incarnated what our nation has been feeling for years now: abandonment. The worker, left behind because of outsourcing, saw his face reflected in the man waiting for help on his roof. The mom, living paycheck to paycheck and unable to afford healthcare, saw her own children when she saw pictures of babies crying for nourishment. The grandmother worried about Social Security saw herself, slumped in a chair, left to die and covered by a blanket.
Democrats, our message for 2006 is this: We will not abandon you, America.
The GOP, from Bush to Delay to Frist to EVERY REPUBLICAN that has voted with them, 90%, 95%, 99% of the time, has abandoned America. The GOP tax cuts have yanked the carpet from under the American worker. The GOP Social Security plan ensures that, in the twilight of our lives, we may face the same fate as some of the Katrina victims--alone, needing medicine and shelter, and abandoned. The GOP Iraq policy has endangered our armed forces. They sit there on the field, without proper equipment...forgotten playthings as the GOP contines this game it called its "mideast policy."
If Democrats embrace this message, if they can prove to the American public that the Democratic Party will not leave any American behind, then there is no reason why we could not reclaim Congress in 2006. At the very least, we would set a strong foundation for 2008.
HOW WE WON'T ABANDON AMERICA
38%. 38% gives us the environment we need to be proactive now with our agenda. We will not abandon America.
We will protect civil and constitutional rights.
We will defend our classrooms and reject the war against evolution launched by the radical right.
We will support our troops, and bring them home.
We will stand firm against corruption, and will demand that Bush fire Rove for his role in the Plame case, and that DeLay is fully investigated.
We will save America's children and elderly from disease and poverty.
And we will be loyal to what America should be, to the American dream.
How do you propose Democrats don't abandon America?
* Or, in the alternative, if you're braindrained on a Saturday night, use this thread to boast about the demise of the GOP ;)