WTF Is It Now?!?

'POLL-ISH JOKES'

"Am I the only one who, when it comes to polls, feels like he's on LSD? Take Bush's 'approval rating' ...please. Despite a recession, despite undefined 'war' that is slowly becoming a Vietnam-like quagmire, despite a USA Patriot Act that is the first step to a Gestapo takeover, despite a bloated defense budget at a time when all other aspects of the national budget are strip-mined, despite revelations that every member of his Cabinet with the exception of Colin Powell is a corrupt, lying corporate lapdog, Bush's 'approval ratings' are consistently high.

"Surely, the pollsters are not talking to any black people or any poor people or any people who can't afford health insurance or prescription medicine. Surely, anyone who has seen their stock money disappear into the pockets of Bush's CEO pals, anyone with a 401(K) plan, anyone who cares about the environment, anyone who is pro-choice, anyone against war and capital punishment is not going to 'approve' of the president's job." - Read more of Alan Bisbort's column in the Hartford Advocate.



POLLS, HYPOCRISY, AND THE KNEEPAD MEDIA
"For the connoiseur of Bushisms, here's an anecdote attributed to Prime Minister Tony Blair by the London Times. Seemingly frustrated by his inability to peddle Texas-style economics to French Premier Jacques Chirac, it seems, Bush confided to Blair that 'the problem with the French, is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur.'

"Like many instances of Bush's fabled ignorance, the 'entrepreneur' tale seems almost too good to be true. But then so does President Junior's standing in opinion polls. Apart from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, can you think of any number softer than the 70 percent favorable ratings a Gallup poll says Bush enjoys? Would these be the same American voters who have watched their retirement investments melting away like the Antarctic ice shelf?

"Apparently some are. Writing in Salon, Joe Conason points out that fully 39 percent in that same Gallup survey "believe the president did something 'illegal' or 'unethical' in his role as a corporate director. Thirty-one percent believe that he 'did not do anything seriously wrong,' while 30 per cent have no opinion." Do the arithmetic, and it appears that some who rate Bush favorably also suspect he's a crook." - More Gene Lyons at Bartcop.com.