Why do you still support Bush?

That's the main reason a central government will never work in Iraq. There are too many sectarian differences that will not be compromised by all three groups.

It was screwed up since the Brits established the boundary for Iraq as one country.

Bush never understood that the sectarian division existed for hundreds of years. They never could understand that trying to enforce a "democracy" was a lost cause before it started.

What we now have are the Iraqi military divided into three groups torturing and killing each other off. No central government is ever going to fix that! More violence only guarantees more of the same.

Um-hmm ... and JFK threw it on LBJ and DDE threw it on JFK?

Careful with your spinning before you find yourself in a low-Earth orbit.

Bush is also losing support from his own party:

Posted on Thu, May. 25, 2006



Bush reaching out more than ever to disgruntled lawmakers

BY JAMES KUHNHENN AND RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Burdened by the lowest poll numbers of his presidency, President Bush is looking for friends in a Congress filled with resentment over perceived snubs and real institutional clashes.

And it's not only Democrats who feel dissed. Many Republican lawmakers say they've been taken for granted by a top-down White House that wants their votes, but not their advice. The long-simmering discontent has become more apparent recently, even as Bush's aides have worked to improve relations.

"They still think it's a parliamentary system of government," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., describing a Bush administration mindset that sees the legislative branch as a rubber stamp for the executive.

Some complaints are petty gripes from big-ego lawmakers who never feel they get enough attention or respect. Others involve more substantial questions of separation of power. But the tension could hinder Republican efforts to forge unity in the November elections and hasten Bush's slide into lame-duck status.

The bipartisan outrage in Congress over an FBI raid last weekend on a Louisiana Democrat's Capitol Hill office was the latest flare-up. Armed with a court-approved search warrant, the FBI seized files from the offices of Rep. William Jefferson as part of a bribery investigation.

Congressional leaders from both parties denounced the raid all week as a violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers. Their pique was heightened because House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., didn't get advance notice of the police action.

Bush tried Thursday to soothe congressional tempers by ordering the seized files sealed for 45 days while congressional leaders and the Department of Justice negotiate a resolution.

Hastert and his colleagues were even more angered earlier this month when they were kept in the dark about Bush's plan to oust then-CIA Director Porter Goss, a former Florida congressman. The lack of a heads-up added to the resentment among Goss' friends on Capitol Hill when he was unceremoniously dumped.

White House officials say they're eager to smooth over any rough spots in their relations with congressional Republicans. Bush and his advisers are going out of their way to curry favor with lawmakers, seeking their advice in talks at the White House and inviting them over for dinner or drinks.

As part of the outreach, first lady Laura Bush has arranged a series of theme dinners, often built around holidays. A Valentine's Day event gave members of Congress a chance to bring their spouses to the presidential mansion. Bush hosts a reception every three weeks or so. He's also held more than 30 small group meetings with lawmakers since the start of the year.

"The types of meetings we have had are less focused on specific issues and more focused generally on what the members want to talk about," said Candida Wolff, who heads Bush's legislative affairs office. "We'll say, `We have items we want to talk about, but we also want to hear what you want to talk about.'"

Lawmakers who've attended recent sessions say - often in a tone of pleasant surprise - that Bush now listens to what they have to say.

Wolff also has been given more freedom to share information with Congress, despite the risk of leaks.

"What they've done is good," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a past critic of the administration's relations with Congress. "They still need to do more."

Some Republicans, though, shrug off what others perceive as back-of-the-hand treatment. "I come from New York, where we always seem to be hurting people's feelings," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

Still, several lawmakers complained that even as the White House reaches out on matters that are priorities or trouble spots, such as immigration and Iraq, the administration has stiff-armed them on other fronts.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., complains frequently that the Justice Department hasn't responded adequately to his questions about the legal authority for secret wiretaps conducted by the National Security Agency.

On issues of national security, "there has not been that give-and-take relationship that I think is essential," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It has created more of the problems and tensions between both branches of government."

After much prodding from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the White House agreed this month to inform more senators about the NSA's work by expanding classified hearings to include all members of the House and Senate intelligence panels.

Some lawmakers questioned the motives behind the new cooperative attitude at the White House. With his approval ratings hovering near 30 percent, Bush needs all the friends he can get to avoid being labeled a lame duck.

His slide in public opinion polls is a turnabout from his first term, when he soared and Republicans eagerly embraced his strategy against terrorism and his tax-cutting agenda. Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning Washington think tank, said Bush made little effort to court lawmakers back then.

"He didn't give a damn," Ornstein said. "He figured he would take the Republicans for granted and mistreat the Democrats and all would work out fine. And it worked for a little while."

Even in 2005, his fifth year as president, Bush had a better-than-average legislative record than most recent presidents, according to an analysis by Congressional Quarterly, the authoritative news-research service. Last year, Bush prevailed 78 percent of the time when Congress voted on issues on which he took a clear position. The only president in the last 50 years who came close to matching Bush's record during his fifth year in office was Lyndon B. Johnson, who, like Bush, dealt with a Congress controlled by his own party.

One of the low points in Bush's relations with his Republican colleagues in Congress came in early 2006, when lawmakers rebelled against the administration's plan to let a Dubai-based company run some major U.S. ports. Lott said he warned Bush then that he had to reach out to Congress.

"I told the president directly myself, `Mr. President, I worry that you're home alone over there,'" Lott said in an interview.

Wolff, the chief White House lobbyist, acknowledged previous missteps, but said tension between the branches is inevitable.

"You're going to have struggles and complaints no matter what you do, particularly in the fifth or sixth years of a term. Members decide that they want to strike out on their own," she said. "Even if our poll numbers were fine, there's going to be problems. It's the nature of the executive and legislative branches. It's that push and pull."

Any politician from either party does what it takes to save his own ass.

As the present situation for Bush now shows adequately to prove the point.

I am constrained to point out that Mr. Imposter, is sometimes in error and often behind the times. His posts, at times, are based on egregious and startling errors. He has often claimed that President Bush's approval rating was 29.

Upon examination of the ratings this month, it is found that Mr. Imposter is at least six or perhaps eightpoints too low.

I have therefore resolved to check Mr.Imposter's claims much more frequently to see whether he is, as shown below, again very mistaken.

.

Diageo/Hotline RV 5/18-21/06 37 61 3 -24
.

FOX/Opinion Dynamics RV 5/16-18/06 35 56 8 -21
.

CBS 5/16-17/06 35 60 5 -25
.

CNN 5/16-17/06 36 57 7 -21
.

Note that the polls were taken from ten to five days ago and that the four results ( 37, 35, 35, 36) add up to 35.7---a full 6.7 POINTS HIGHER THAN THE 29 CLAIMED BY MR. IMPOSTER.

oh yeah... 35.7 % approval..... go stand in the corner C.I. our president is AMAZINGLY popular and well loved.... break out the champagne...

But his numbers are on the upswing, so by this point in 2008 he should be well-poised for his next run for the presid ......

But, hey. He's not running again is he, so why should he give a damn about his numbers now anymore than he did in '04 when he was actually re-elected??

If these constant poll postings are somehow reassuring to the pissers & moaners, you're certainly welcome to whatever comfort you can muster.

And ...

If the GOP loses seats and/or control of Congress this fall, it will be a mixed blessing in that the country will get a 2-year refresher course in Democratic malaise prior to the '08 elections.

That's a big "if" because the Dems are sitting on their own treasure trove of scandals that will most certainly come under tit-for-tat scrutiny when things get cranking.

Plus ... I'm sure there's a wacked-out lib just waiting to make his/her own Galloway Gaffe before then ... lotta time left ... lotta time.

Verrrrrrry Rovian idea there I like it!

Love him or hate him, Rove gets things done.

I am very much afraid that "Blue Vined Throbber" is falling behind on his reading. Why only today, in Rasmussen Reports, President Bush was listed with a 40% Job Approval Rating.

Imagine, from Mr. Imposter's "29" to Rassmussen's "40" in only one short month.

The chant rises up across the land:

"Four more years! Four more years!"

Surely, you jest, Whooda Thunk. But I am certain that you know that the left wing is praying and hoping that the Job Approval Rating will be down around 30 in November and not up around 47 or 48, so that there will be a great many House and Senate losses for the GOP.

But the left overlooks the following:

l. The election is over five months away. In politics, two weeks is an eternity.
2. The House of Representatives, in particular, was subject to the redrawing of boundaries based on the 2000 Census. As a result, both parties redrew many districts in order to protect the Congressmen in those districts. There are not that many seats which are really at risk.

And ...

3. Such polls = less than squat.

One does not have to be a liberal...a left winger...a Democrat...or any of those things to recognize that George Bush is a goddam moron...and that the country and its prestige is suffering because of this pathetically incompetent administration.

I am not a liberal....I am not a left winger....I am not a Democrat.

George Bush is a fukin' moron....and his administration is doing things to this country and to the world in general that should not be done in mixed company.

Neither is Frank a conservative.... or a right winger .... or a Republican.

Something I came across;


SOURCE

The fact that the person's making armchair observations about how others deal with the loss of their child speaks for itself.

what is a blue vined throbber? Sounds like a sort of prize rose or something....