Down, Down, Down...

President Bush's approval rating is at an all time low of 40%, and his disapproval rating is at 51%. But who conducted this poll? CNN? CBS News? No. Fox News. "This is a new low for the president's approval rating — though down only 1 point from last month's low of 41 percent approval." Well, I guess that makes it all better. Like when Ogilvie in The Bad News Bears said, "Well, we committed 24 errors, and their pitcher threw a no-hitter against us, but there is some good news! Two of our runners almost managed to get to first base, and we did hit 17 foul balls!" Other media outlets have reported similar presidential approval ratings, as low as 38%, and some conservative commentators have questioned their methodology and how they might have been skewed. The Fox poll makes it quite clear where the U.S. population stands.

I also heard from Fox News that Bush's teleconference with soldiers serving in Iraq was staged and that a number of people at the Pentagon were not happy about the troops once again being used as political props for the president. Carl Cameron, the Fox White House correspondent who's objectivity about Bush is highly questionable, looked almost crestfallen as he reported that some White House staffers are shaking their heads over this. (Check out the video on the Fox News site .)

Does this mean that even conservatives are starting to abandon the Good Ship Dubya? It's no secret that conservatives have been upset with Bush over spending and deficits, border/immigration issues and the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination. But while Bush's approval from Republicans has slipped, it remains at 75% with only a 15% disapproval (vs. 11%/83% for Democrats). What should sound more of an alarm bell is the 34%/57% approval/disapproval rating from independents. A lot of those people held their noses to vote for Bush last November because of what they perceived to be a weak opponent, and they are suffering from buyer's remorse.

Despite what you may think, I get no perverse pleasure out of these developments. I'm no fan of Bush, but when a president (ANY president) is a miserable failure, the U.S. as a whole suffers. I'd rather have Bush govern in an acceptable way and get credit for it than what is happening now. I have argued since last year that people voted for Bush for a number of different reasons (security, war on terror, tax cuts, gay marriage, abortion, social security reform, etc.) but nobody voted for ALL of those reasons. There are people who support the global war on terror, but don't like the way Bush has exploited it to push an unacceptable domestic agenda. Or, they don't believe that the war in Iraq fits into the larger war on terror. Or, perhaps they do, but think Bush et al. have royally messed up the execution of that war. Or they don't want their social security or bankrupcy protection messed with. So Bush erroneously assumed he had a mandate for everything he ran on, and he's now paying the price for that assumption.

From what I've seen online, there's little chance for a true consensus on what's best for the country. But Bush is losing his grip on his ability to lead, and the American voters look like they will welcome a change in direction in upcoming elections. The Republicans in Congress might suffer a lot of casualties, but I'm not big on the Democrats either. It behooves people of all stripes to hold their elected representatives to a higher standard, and for the press to hold their feet to the fire. At least we know Fox News will do that if Democrats are in charge.