WA PO: Bush "in a political ditch"..."He has no political capital"...

In an Election Year, GOP Wary of Following Bush

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 10, 2006; A06

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/09/AR2006030902288_pf.html

When President Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove mapped out plans for a political comeback in 2006, this was nowhere on the script. Suddenly, the collapse of a port-management deal neither even knew about a month ago has devastated the White House and raised questions about its ability to lead even fellow Republicans. The bipartisan uprising in Congress in the face of a veto threat represented a singular defeat for Bush, who when it came to national security grew accustomed during his first five years in office to leading as he chose and having loyal lawmakers fall in line. Now, with his poll numbers in a political ditch, the port debacle has contributed to a perception of weakness that has liberated Republicans who once would never have dared cross Bush.

"He has no political capital," said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster. "Slowly but surely it's been unraveling. There's been a direct correlation between the trajectory of his approval numbers and the -- I don't want to call it disloyalty -- the independence on the part of the Republicans in Congress."

The port deal has troubled Republicans not just on the substance of the issue but also on the president's handling of it. The White House failed to anticipate the frenzy that would be touched off by the prospect of an Arab company managing U.S. ports, and many Republicans believe that Bush exacerbated the situation with a rash veto threat.

The missteps seem all the more striking for a White House once known for its discipline and political acuity. With Bush's approval rating ranging from 34 percent in a CBS News poll to 41 percent in the latest Washington Post-ABC News survey, some Republican candidates facing the voters in just eight months worry privately that, unlike in 2002 and 2004, he will be more albatross than advantage for GOP candidates in the fall campaign.

like 9-11 did. :grr:

on a number of levels, but the most important one is that Bush has NONE of the charisma that Hitler had. More than 4 million German men fought and died for Hitler - this doofus can't even get recruitment numbers up above the average. For all his deranged ideas, Hitler earned the respect and admiration of this followers by suffering for them. The best Bush can show is that he was a cheerleader at Andover which - as Gore Vidal has said - doesn't make you a very good president or make you a very good cheerleader.

He's a loser and an idiot. It's interesting how Mao wrote his Red Book, Gadaffi wrote his Green Book, and Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. Uncurious George hasn't written anything and hasn't read much more.

or att*ck on American soil. you know he's got it up his sleeve.

and the Repugs won't even be able to remember his name? "No, I did not have photo ops with that man."

Let's clarify this statement please. To whom do the assholes owe loyalty? I thought (silly little liberal that I am) that their overwhelming priorities were ordered thusly: First and foremost, to the American people, and a distant second, to the political machinery. But then again, I am just a silly little liberal, after all.