Korean Job Discussion Forums

[R. S. Refugee]

Americans Turn Against Bush and a War
on Iraq that is Getting Nowhere
by Andrew Gumbel

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=645323

[itaewonguy]

ex presidents turn against bush! and their country!
whats new?

[Tiger Beer]

[Wangja]

[The Bobster]

[Wangja]

[dogbert]

I turned against Bush in 1980. I'm way ahead of the curve.

[Tiger Beer]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Here is another article saying much the same:

Poll: Bush Job Approval Dips to New Low By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
39 minutes ago



As the war in Iraq drags on, President Bush's job approval and the public's confidence in the direction he's taking the nation are at their lowest levels since The Associated Press-Ipsos poll began in December 2003.

About one-third of adults, 35 percent, said they think the country is headed in the right direction, while 43 percent said they approve of the job being done by Bush. Just 41 percent say they support his handling of the war, also a low-water mark.

"There's a bad mood in the country, people are out of sorts," said presidential scholar and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Charles Jones, who lives near Charlottesville, Va. "Iraq news is daily bad news. The election in Iraq helped some, and the formation of the government helped some, but dead bodies trump the more positive news."

California retiree Carol Harvie was quick to mention Iraq when asked about how Bush was doing his job.

"I don't think he's read his history enough about different countries and foreign affairs," said Harvie, a political independent who lives near San Diego, a region with several military bases. "Anything they try to do in Iraq has spelled trouble. I think he bit off more than he can chew."

Car bombings and attacks by insurgents killed 80 U.S. troops and more than 700 Iraqis last month and Pentagon officials acknowledge the level of violence is about the same as a year ago, when they were forced to scrap a plan to substantially reduce the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

Bush administration officials say the key to getting U.S. forces out of Iraq is training Iraqis to provide their own security.

While Bush has gotten generally low scores for his handling of domestic issues for many months, most Americans have been supportive of his foreign policy. Not any more.

The poll conducted for AP by Ipsos found 45 percent support Bush's foreign policy, down from 52 percent in March.

Bush's popularity reached its zenith shortly after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when various polls found nearly 90 percent approved of the job he was doing. It was close to 80 percent when Ipsos started tracking attitudes about Bush at the start of 2002, and was just over 50 percent when the AP-Ipsos poll was started in December 2003.

But since winning re-election last November, Bush has seen his poll numbers sag.

Bush, who faces no more elections, has responded to past dips in the polls by saying, "You can find them going up and you can find them going down."

David Fultz, a Republican from Venice, Fla., is among those who are sticking with the president.

"In terms of where we're going in the future, President Bush is laying out a plan," said Fultz, an assistant principal at a middle school. "When it's all said and done, we'll be where we want to be. We need to help establish democracy in the Middle East."

Support for Bush's handling of domestic issues remained in the high 30s and low 40s in the latest AP-Ipsos poll.

Thirty-seven percent support Bush's handling of Social Security, while 59 percent disapprove. Those numbers haven't budged after more than four months of the president traveling the country to sell his plan to create private accounts in Social Security.

Support for his handling of the economy was at 43 percent.

Congress gets even lower grades than Bush, a potentially troubling development for those seeking re-election next year.

Only about three in 10 polled said they approve of the job being done by Congress, while 64 percent disapprove.

"Presidents who are low in the polls have a hard time getting Congress to go along with them," said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "He has to persuade the people in Congress to follow his legislative agenda and they're all worried about 2006."

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults was taken June 6-8 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points

************

The important numbers to watch are the numbers on domestic policy. The ratings on Iraq are much less important, almost irrelevant, because the Democrats cannot offer a different policy.

The following is a story about domestic politics that will curl some people's hair:

GOP Leaders Weigh Raising Soc. Sec. Age By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
7 minutes ago



Struggling to breathe life into President Bush's call for sweeping Social Security legislation, Senate Republicans are considering raising the retirement age and holding down future benefits for highly paid workers.

Not among the suggestions outlined Thursday by Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is a cost-cutting approach that has drawn favorable reviews from Bush. It would curtail future benefits paid to middle-income as well as upper-income workers, a proposal that has sparked a fresh round of criticism from Democrats already opposed to the president's call for voluntary personal accounts for younger workers.

Personal savings accounts funded from payroll taxes was not a major topic during Grassley's meeting, which focused on measures that could shore up Social Security's finances, according to several officials in attendance.

The Iowa Republican declined to offer details on his presentation to Republicans on the committee, saying his intent had been to begin building a consensus within the GOP. Other officials described his presentation, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

At the same time, there was more evidence of the difficulties facing GOP leaders and the White House as they try to push a bill that has met strong Democratic opposition and public skepticism.

Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss., a member of the Finance Committee, said he doubted any legislation would reach the Senate floor this summer. "I don't look for it until later on in the fall," he said.

And Sen. Olympia Snowe (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, one of 11 Republicans on the Finance Committee, expressed uncertainty about supporting the types of steps needed to achieve solvency if Democrats didn't cooperate.

Under official projections, the Social Security trust funds would pay out more in benefits than they receive in taxes beginning in 2017 and would become depleted in 2041. After that, payroll taxes would be able to cover only about 72 percent of promised benefits.

Finance Committee Republicans met at the same time two House committee chairmen unveiled legislation aimed at shoring up private pension programs.

"Without compliance reform, more companies will default on their plans or simply stop offering plans to their employees, and taxpayers will be at a greater risk of being stuck with a multibillion-dollar bailout of the PBGC," said Rep. John Boehner (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. is the federal agency that insures private pensions.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, also attended the news conference, underscoring that he intends to broaden Social Security legislation to include provisions affecting pensions as well as private retirement savings accounts such as 401(k)s.

"By putting them together I believe it actually speeds up the process. Instead of having three highly charged partisan fights, we'll only, unfortunately, have one," he joked.

There's partisan fighting aplenty on Social Security.

Democrats have refused to work on bipartisan legislation until Republicans and Bush drop their demand for personal investment accounts. Public opinion polling shows Bush's proposal is unpopular, despite an intensive national sales campaign on the president's part. That, in turn, makes many Republicans reluctant to act on the signature proposal of Bush's second term.

Grassley's presentation marked a new phase in the months-long debate, the first time members of the Finance Committee have discussed suggestions that could form the basis of legislation.

Under the suggestions Grassley presented, upper-wage earners of the future could expect smaller benefits than they now are scheduled to receive.

Under current law, Social Security payroll taxes are levied on the first $90,000 of an individual's income. A worker's beginning Social Security benefit at retirement is calculated based on the tax he or she has paid over his or her working life. The $90,000 figure rises annually, and the starting benefit along with it.

Under Grassley's suggestion, the $90,000 figure would continue to rise, as current law provides, but the beginning benefit would not, according to officials who attended the meeting.

These officials declined to say how quickly Grassley was suggesting the retirement age be raised in the future. Once set at 65, it has been rising slowly under the terms of 1983 legislation, and it is scheduled to reach 67 for people born after 1960.

Sen. Craig Thomas (news, bio, voting record), R-Wyo., said there was agreement to adhere to Bush's call for making no change in benefits for anyone born before 1950.

*************

My sister is spitting nails because she was born in '51.

All last summer I said that the Dems best chance to get Bush out was to focus attention on his Social Security plans. He was vague about them but he has spoken over the years about what he has wanted to do. And the majority of Americans don't want the GOP in charge of Social Security.
There are 70 years worth of speeches by Republicans that could be mined for quotable quotes about abolishing Social Security. A smart Dem would be dragging those quotes out and hammering the GOP over the head at every opportunity.

Stem cell research is another area where the Dems hold an advantage.

[bigverne]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[bigverne]

Apart from Fox News, the major broadcasters are mostly liberal in their outlook. A study was commissioned a few years ago that showed that people working for the major media outlets were democrats by a huge percentage (70-80%), and that they mostly held liberal views on social issues.

I'll try to dig it out.

[guangho]

June 2005: "Americans turn against Bush."

And this matters at the present junction because....

[canuckistan]

[sundubuman]

these polls are meaningless.