An interesting analysis from the
NY Daily News.
WASHINGTON - Is the troubled Bush presidency prematurely cooked? Many prominent Republicans have reluctantly begun to embrace that apocalyptic conclusion.
"The country has given up on him," said GOP consultant Ed Rollins, echoing several other Republican sources, including longtime Bush confidants and party officials. "It's too late to turn it around."
A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll reported last week that with 34 months left in Bush's tenure, 53% of the country believes he is already a lame duck.
But then, even while his own party writes him off, Bush can count on some free advice on how he can turn it around from none other than the DLC:
Get Osama. A dramatic capture of Osama Bin Laden or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of the anti-U.S. insurgents in Iraq, would give Bush a strong boost in the polls. "He could then say with some credibility that progress is being made and paint the Democrats as the party of defeat," said Marshall Wittmann of the Democratic Leadership Council and a former aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
And then, a quote that shows some Republicans apparently understand things better than a number of Democrats.
"He is past the point of recovery," a former senior campaign aide told the Daily News. "The voters are way ahead of the political class, and they have lost faith in the President."