If only Americans had been awake last year, but it was not to be. Now we see the real effects of this administration in these new poll numbers, numbers so bad that it is no wonder we have seen the GOP congress backtrack on so much this week.
MSNBC has the complete article up, and here is a bit from the story:
Now is the autumn of Bush's discontent, according to the NEWSWEEK poll, taken by phone of 1,002 Americans over Thursday and Friday nights. The president can take some solace in the fact that 42 percent of Americans believe he is honest and ethical. Only 29 percent believe that Vice President Dick Cheney is. And more than a quarter of Republicans, 26 percent, believe the vice president is not honest and ethical. The growing credibility gap could have ramifications across the president's agenda: 56 percent of Americans say Bush "won't be able to get much done;" only 36 percent say he "can be effective."
More...
Notice that now GOPers are starting to wake up, has taken them a bit longer, but they are seeing exactly what Bush has done to the country as well.
More from the article:
Most worrisome for the White House: the base seems to be cracking. When asked whether anyone in the administration "acted unethically" in the case involving the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name, a 54-percent majority of Americans said they did--and 30 percent of Republicans said they did. And 45 percent of Americans believe someone in the "Bush administration broke the law and acted criminally"--including 22 percent of Republicans.
Does anyone remember the political mandate Bush said he had? Remember how he was going to "spend" his win? He is bankrupt, and is trying to take the country with him, though there does appear to be some awakening from the moderate GOPers in congress. Funny how folks jump ship when things go south.
One more graph from the article:
Coming on the heels of Democratic wins in closely watched gubernatorial races in (Blue) New Jersey and (Red) Virgina this week, all of this has got to worry Republican leaders contemplating next year's elections. When NEWSWEEK asked registered voters whether they planned to vote for a Democrat or a Republican in those elections, 53 percent said a Democrat and 36 percent said a Republican. It's a long way from now to next year's Congressional contests. But no one knows better than the president how much things can change in a year.
I have to admit that these numbers are frustrating to me. Bush is no different NOW then he was last year, and to know that he was elected just boggles the mind. How easily far too many people in this country are fooled.