Bush thinks polls about him are wrong

The president's popularity rating is at an all-time low -- 23% of all registered voters, according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll, discussed here last week. Those numbers are down from February, when he had an approval rating of 35%, and contrast with November 2001, just after the 9/11 terror attacks, when his popularity rating among registered voters was at 85%.

But President Bush senses less hostility out on the road lately, according to U.S. News & World Report, and has told aides he senses an uptick in popularity that is not yet reflected in the polls. One senior advisor, saying the president feels less "antipathy" from crowds along motorcade routes, put it this way: "He feels there has been a shift in attitudes out there that's not reflected in polling data."

The White House also believes that the president's recent use of the veto pen -- on legislation such as the farm bill -- has given him some leverage with Congress. "It's a mistake to underestimate the institutional power of the president and he has utilized that power intelligently," the aide told the magazine.

As if to prove that the administration is not playing like a lame duck, White House press secretary Dana Perino urged Congress today to approve more of Bush's judicial appointments after it returns from the Fourth of July recess. In her daily briefing with reporters, she said:

This Congress has really dragged its feet. And they said that they would be able to confirm a certain number of judges a month and they really fell behind on that. And I don't know if they'll be able to make up for lost time, but we certainly think that our judges need to be confirmed, especially because people who are out in America and want their day in court are, in many places, waiting for months, if not years, in order to actually get that day.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: Leslie Kossoff / AFP

Comments

[jerry]

Actually, Shrub is quite intelligent. His picture appears many times in the dictionary, right underneath the words traitor, stupid, uncaring, incompetent, impotent, criminal, murderer.

[Paul]

George lives in a delusional bubble. The only reason he would sense an uptick when he passes people is that we all know that their is less than 6 months left in his regime and soon he will be gone and forgotten and hopefully rung up on war crime charges and tossed in jail with his buddy Dick.

[GWB]

Heheheh. See I am smarter than you people. I haven't been out in public since I moved into White House. My limo is a private ride. And Pam the economy is in great shape. 10 of my oil cronies are buying new yachts. No body buys yachts in a bad econmy. Duuuh.

[hashpipe]

The lame duck is preparing an attack on Iran.

[nomow]

Why impeach when incarceration is so much better! . HE probably is more popular with fox news people who not only bite the crap sandwich but swallow too. I love that so many people see through this administration for what it is, a war machine run by rich greedy republicans who have no interest in laws or democracy for that matter. If there was ever traitors to our democracy it has been the Bush gangster regime. No respect for rules

[yet another bush hater]

Hysterical--the man is a complete fool. Saddly, he also shredded the Bill of Rights, conducted illegal wiretapping, lied us into a war, and brought our nation to the brink of disaster. What do you all say we don't let this sort of thing happen again. Send a strong message and impeach the mo fo.

[Darin Croft]

Like everything else he sees in his world, Bush is delusional.

[Carla]

Oh, dear. I am a Southern lady, and I believe that to dress down a sitting president about his shortcomings in public would be unpardonably rude - in my case even more unconscionable, considering just how low my opinion of him actually is. I am delighted that people still remember their manners.

[Kevin Morgan]

Personally, I still fear what Bush is capable of. The lame duck still has his finger on the trigger of war. Because he is willing to bypass congress and the law, two-thirds of what constitutes "lame duck" doesn't apply to him. The administration cultivated a history of exaggerated conflict with Iran to make a case for war. The media is still carrying the white house's water. People are still shaping their opinions based on republican smear-emails. Nobody learned anything from Iraq or 8 years of being lied to by Bush. The only accountability is in the poll ratings, and Bush doesn't accept them.

[Phil]

What I want to know is who are these 2 in 10 idiots who still approve of this baboon?

[Don Babb]

George Bush is the worst president in my lifetime. I am 73 years old. Need I say more????

[Landless]

He was voted in the second time by a majority. Someone likes him. Are they afraid to stand by their man? All of his supporters should have enlisted in the army to support his war.

[Melanie Sansom]

Bush is right that the polls are incorrect. His approval rating is not 23%, it's 2.3%.

[spr]

The emperor truly wears no clothes

GEORGIE, GEORGIE, YOU FOOLED ME TWICE
SHAME ON ME

[Welcome To The Protest Zone]

Perhaps he fails to see the "antipathy" because setting up designated protest zones up to a half mile away from any and all events the President attend has been a favorite tactic of this utterly incompetent administration.

Nothing like strong arming the public, squelching public dissent, and hand picking your "adoring" throngs.

Speaking of "antipathy" who else thinks that Dubya believes it's Italian Hors d'oeuvre's

[gary]

vietnam was LBJ, panama and GW1 was bush 1, Iraq is bush 2. Does anybody notice a pattern that if your from texas and/or a rancher you love to send americans to war?????? are all texans so insecure or just plain evil.

[Johnny Montez]

What scares me and should you is who are these 23%?
The 23% you should fear!!!

[Bao]

Remember that he's the first President to have been put there by Jesus himself.

WTF... 1.20.2009. Love it or leave it

[miles]

everyone is counting down but george is pressing ahead with his plan for iran. he's not gonna go quietly or intelligently.

[Joe]

He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot. Groucho

[Steven]

All of you Bush haters who haven't gotten over the outcome of the 2000 election need to tone down the seditious comments. The Democratic party propaganda and hatred over the last 7 years has undermined our country's reputation and has embolden the enemy. Your socialist-type party leaders like Pelosi and Reid are complete disasters. God help us if Barrack Hussein Obama wins the election. The liberal agenda will unravel 200 years of tradition and values.

[JMNHAUS]

He is delusional and stupid. He will never understand that his legacy is going to be similar to Joseph McCarthy.

[Dan West]

You folk in LA are not the nation. The President is automatically unpopular with the 49% Americans--because they are Democrats. He has become unpopular with some conservatives due to approval of too much spending and failure to control illegal immigration. Maybe 70% don't approve of his job performance. But that is virtually meaningless. If it was possible for him to run against Obama you would see a 50 -50 race right now.(Just as Obama hasn't run off and left McCain--in the polls). This President will have a legacy that will stack up with any in the past 50 years, once the emotion and bitter hatred of that built up has subsided. Go back to 1952 and read accounts of Harry Truman and how he was vilified and his popularity numbers. Presidents like any leader that take the hard decisions pay a price for their actions.
It is a distinct possibility that your darling Obama may not even beat the old man and you will have to endure more. The Republicans are down--we don't really like our candidate...but since the second term of FDR no Democrat
has polled more than 50% in this country. If not for Ross Perot, Bill Clinton
would never have been President.