Nathan Moore's Thoughts
Not So Fast
AC Kleinheider at Volunteer Voters is already predicting certain Republican doom in 2008
Indeed, Fred Thompson is not included in the poll but considering that Thompson plays even further into the Republican base than those listed, these results cannot be a good sign. Eight years is a pretty good run for a Party at the Presidential level. Republicans seem to be savoring this election because they view Obama and Clinton as thoroughly beatable. What they don’t seem to realize is that this Republican President is highly unpopular.
Following eight years of an unpopular President, the chances that his party will hold on to the Presidency is extremely slim. Republicans by any historical measure are set to lose this election yet they seem utterly blind to that fact. Why?
Well, yeah, Except for this
Just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress.
This 14% Congressional confidence rating is the all-time low for this measure, which Gallup initiated in 1973. The previous low point for Congress was 18% at several points in the period of time 1991 to 1994.
Congress is now nestled at the bottom of the list of Gallup’s annual Confidence in Institutions rankings, along with HMOs. Just 15% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in HMOs. (By way of contrast, 69% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military, which tops the list. More on this at galluppoll.com on Thursday).
As noted in the story, the last time Congress suffered such disdain, the next election brought in the Republican revolution of 1994. The difference this time is that the next election happens to be a presidential election year. If 1994 had been 1996, Bill Clinton would have been a one-term failure.
Besides, running to the Republican base isn’t the problem for Fred Thompson or anyone else. Conservative principles win national elections (just ask Bill Clinton about welfare reform and balanced budgets) It wasn’t conservatives who lost their congressional seats in 2006. And it isn’t conservative principles sending Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid into the political porcelain, but their ceaseless and adamant anti-war liberal inanity. The Democrats running for president have to deal with their cohorts in Congress. Plausibly, and certainly, Republican candidates are able to run away from President Bush.
There is a vast misinterpretation of what the president’s lack of popularity means. It doesn’t mean the people thought going into Iraq was a bad idea, as the Democrats seem so convinced. The lack of support comes from the execution of the plan to reach the goal. Everyone but the most leftist surrenderati want to see America succeed in establishing a functioning Iraqi democracy. The Republicans know that. I don’t think the Democrats have a clue.
June 21st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Wanting a functioning Democracy in Iraq and wanting American soldiers to stay in Iraq indefinitely until that occurs is two-different things.
I don’t know how Fred Thompson’s smooth baritone voice is going to turn a crap policy into a successful one…I guess we’ll see if Americans are willing to waste another 4 years on a Republican President to see if he can simply talk the Iraqis into getting along and creating a thriving Democratic utopia.
June 21st, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Woohoo! Another Freddie lover! One World Government backed by the Council on Foreign Relations, all the way baby! Send me to the Gulag!!! Take my rights away! Steal my retirement and my property and give me no hope whatsoever! I love AMERICA!!!!! Hurray!!!!!! I love stoooopid Americans!!! Really!!!!
June 21st, 2007 at 5:42 pm
[...] Nathan Moore on the news that Congress has hit a new low approval rating. He, of course, chalks this up to the party of Majority: As noted in the story, the last time Congress suffered such disdain, the next election brought in the Republican revolution of 1994. The difference this time is that the next election happens to be a presidential election year. If 1994 had been 1996, Bill Clinton would have been a one-term failure. [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Conservative Republicans is an oxymoron. The Republicans have deserted the Conservatives and VV is right, the Republicans are just as responsible for the Low Rating. My congressman, Marsha Blackburn is No Conservative, but she is a Republican. I vote Her (and the whole bunch) bad. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:32 pm
“There is a vast misinterpretation of what the president’s lack of popularity means. It doesn’t mean the people thought going into Iraq was a bad idea, as the Democrats seem so convinced. ”
Wrong, totally false. In every poll taken this year, almost double the number of Americans believe that invading Iraq was a mistake than those that say it was the right thing to do.
If you could only see ONE documentary on the Iraq War, let it be “No End In Sight.”
“No End In Sight” is the winner of the Documentary Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival . It deserves the award and many more. The film is a shocking inside look at the stupidity, ignorance and bad decision making that went into the planning and implementation of the Iraq War.
It’s the first film to chronicle the Iraq side of the descent into guerilla warfare. Numerous interviews with U.S. government officials, many for the first time, will leave you absolutely stunned! Col. Paul Hughes is of particular interest and if there was any justice, he would be given the Medal of Freedom. Additional interviews with Gen. Jay Garner, Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Richard Armitage, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson and Major General Paul Eaton will open your eyes to the incompetence and sheer idiocy of this incredible folly.
No end in sight - the documentary. Google it.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
“Wrong, totally false. In every poll taken this year, almost double the number of Americans believe that invading Iraq was a mistake than those that say it was the right thing to do.”
Fine Elle, but there’s a reason we hold elections (as there’s a reason that people like Hillary are surprisingly moderate when discussing the war in Iraq) . . . you better make sure all these fine opinion-having folks go to the trouble of voting this time . . .