Thirty. One.
Last time I murmured about Bush’s poll ratings, it stood — as per one of the polls — at 32%. It looks as though each successive poll shows Bush at one point less than his previous poll, which means we’re still a few away from what I once thought was inconceivable — a Bush approval rating in the 20s. It’s possible that he’ll have a bump back to that vaulted mid-30s range — but in the meantime… the 32%… has now become… 31%.
President Bush’s approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.
The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush’s standing down by 3 percentage points in a single week. His disapproval rating also reached a record: 65%. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.
Sure, the margin of error means that the slippage from 32% to 31%, and across different polls no less, is meaningless, but it is psychologically entertaining to see one successive poll after another with a 34% approval rating, a 33% approval rating, a 32% rating, and now… a 31% approval rating. Thank you, you’ve all been great! This is the Rise, and Fall, and Fall, and Fall, and Fall, and Fall of President George W Bush.
Still, there may be a certain nobility in Bush’s impossible crushing positioning. It may be true that he considers the Greatest Moment of his Presidency that time he caught a 7-foot Fish (it is impossible to parody this guy — he actually said that) — and at a certain point in time he comes to a “History will vindicate” me position. Historians regard Wilson in high esteem, wrongly says I. Historians regard Truman highly, not as wrongly say I. If historians ever regard Bush highly, I will have to sigh and just say that they did a Wilson Job on him (it’s his second term that I cannot stomach much).
Or you can go to a song — now played at sporting events, though I have to wonder what message it sends out about the “Home Team” — from the band “Cake”, which I think kind of encapsulates Bush’s situation:
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,
Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flags goes up,
Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup.
They deftly manouver and muscle for rank,
Fuel burning fast on an empty tank,
Wreckless and wild they pour thru the turns,
Their prowless is podent and secretly stern.
As they speed thru the finish the flags go down.
The fans get up, and get out of town.
The arena is empty except for one man,
Still driving and striving as fast as he can
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup,
But he’s driving and striving and hugging the turns,
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.
He’s going the distance.
He’s going for speed.
She’s all alone, all alone in her time of need.
Because he’s racing and pacing and plotting the course,
He’s fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
He’s going the distance.
Yeah!
No trophy, no flowers, no flash bulbs, no wine.
He’s haunted by something he cannot define.
Bowel shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse,
Assail him, impale him with monster truck force.
In his mind he’s still driving, still making the grade.
She’s hoping time that her memories will fade,
Cause he’s racing and pacing and plotting the course,
He’s fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But he’s striving and driving and hugging the turns,
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.
Cause he’s going the distance.
He’s going for speed.
She’s all alone, all alone in her time of need.
Because he’s racing and pacing and plotting the course,
He’s fighting and biting and riding on his horse,
He’s racing and pacing and plotting the course,
He’s fighting and biting and riding on his horse!
He’s going the distance.
He’s going for speed.
He’s going the distance…
Well… at least the idea that He’s In Dead Last Place, cartoonishly so… if you want to read the song that direction, as opposed to any number of other directions you can read the song into (a love spurned). The problem comes in that the President really is not on much of a course at all at this point. The “Doubt and Remorse” part — if you squint hard enough, you may be able to read that in the scrounched face and his mention of catching a fish as the Great Accomplishment of his Presidency.
May 12th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Funny. Cake songs can be used in so many versitile ways.