Monday, February 27, 2006

National Security

I wanted to write a follow up on Kyle's post on Bush's pathetic approval ratings, and bring back a story from a couple weeks ago.

The one strong suit Bush has held on to, through all his ups and downs as president, is the public's approval ratings of his job "protecting the homeland," a traditional GOP strength. We as Democrats have always had to jump through hoops to explain why we are not unpatriotic/traitors, and even Democrats who lost three limbs in combat have been successfully compared to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, causing them to lose re-election. I don't think any of us need a reminder to what happened to another war hero named John Kerry.

So it should have suprised no one when a month ago, Karl Rove set the tone for the 2006 midterm elections, calling on Republicans to focus heavily on national security in their attempts to save Nov '06 from being a total disaster. The reaction from some Democrats, however, was quite surprising. It appears that some within our party still insist on fighting elections on domestic issues, thinking that people will honestly put their social security check before the lives of them and their children. In a post 9/11 world, if people do not trust you to protect our country, they will not vote for you- and rightly so! What we need to realize, as Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) points out, is that not only is this a issue we need to fight on, its one we can and should win. It is not only in our best interest for political reasons, but for the safety of our country that we need to be the one's shaping our national security and foreign policy.

Not only can we win it, but the fight is looking increasingly easier. Quoting from the same article Kyle just did, only 43% of Americans approve of the way Bush is conducting the war on terror. 43% approval, on their "strongest issue"? Is that's not a political opportunity, I don't know what is. Only 30% approve of the way the Iraq war is going, and only 30% approve of the Bush administration's plan to give control of our nation's ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, where two of the 9/11 hijackers came from. But none of this will ever matter unless Democrats finally stand up and stop being so afraid of talking about protecting our country. If we lay out a comprehensive and forward-thinking plan about how to secure our country, not only will we win big in November '06, but we will deserve it. So to Bush, Rove, and the rest of the GOP, I would simply say, bring it on.

-gabe

Bush approval rating at 34 percent

Yes, 3-4.

Thirty-Four.

34.

Oh Lordy that's bad...

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

Mr. Bush's overall job rating has fallen to 34 percent, down from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the job the president is doing.

Wowee..but there's more..

There is a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident.

More then three in four said it was understandable that the accident had occurred and two-thirds said the media had spent too much time covering the story.

Still, the incident appears to have made the public's already negative view of Cheney a more so. Just 18 percent said they had a favorable view of the vice president, down from 23 percent in January.


Well, I suppose when your poll numbers have hit 34%, when you've bungled Iraq, Katrina, social security, and port security, the cloud always has a silver lining. And in this case, that silver lining is Cheney's 18% approval rating.

Rest of article here.

-Love Kyle

Monday, February 13, 2006

Cheney-Quail '06

Vice President Dick Cheney shoots a man, no really.

While it is good to note that the 78-year-old man whom he shot is doing fine, there is a fairly large hubbub over the White House's failure to disclose the shooting.

In fact the story only broke because the owner of the property told a reporter. I have a strong hunch that this story may have never broken if left to the Bush administration. And with good reason.

As with many policy issues, the Bush administration is simply incompetent, plain and simple.

However, this highlights an incompetence that can be deadly. Every year, nearly 1,000 people die because of accidental gun deaths. As a gun owner myself (Though not a hunter), I know that when one fires a gun, one assumes the ultimate responsibilty. I have the responsibility to know that what I am shooting at is in fact what I'm supposed to be shooting at, and not some poor 78-year-old Republican donor. I'd hope that the Vice President of the United States would know this an act as a role model for gun owners everywhere (Especially those who hunt with children).

The individual firing the gun has the ultimate responsibility of knowing where everyone is and ensuring that everyone is kept safe, and it is simply disingenuous to suggest that it is the victim's fault (As the Republican spin is attempting to do now).

The lesson? Don't go hunting with the vice president. And if you do shoot a gun, know that you're not aiming at another person.

Monday, February 06, 2006

We like freedom of the press. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that we generally like the press, as long as it does its job and tells the truth. The New York Times had an interesting column recently about the role of the press in a democracy. I thought I'd include the more amusing part here.

So here's something to ponder: where would you be without your local newspaper? I'll tell you where I'd be - not in the Bruin Democrats. I became interested in politics at roughly the same time I discovered the newspaper at age six. It's been a beautiful marriage ever since.

Love,
Lauren


The Pumas Must be Monitored
By ADAM MELLA

I was watching a great program on the capuchin monkeys of Costa Rica last night around four in the morning. The narrator pointed out the various behaviors and duties of each individual tribe member. While most of the capuchins hung from limbs, playing and eating berries, a special group of monkeys with the best eyesight scurried about the perimeter, scanning the jungle for predators – big cats, birds of prey and venomous snakes.

Of the entire tribe, these sentry monkeys were a small, but important, slice of society. When a bloodthirsty puma came sneaking around, the sentries erupted in wild screams, alerting their ignorant brothers and sisters and saving them from danger.

At four in the morning, this nature program was merely entertaining, but now as I am thinking about the role of a newspaper in a democracy, I find myself identifying with those furry capuchins on the rain-soaked fringe. I let out a horrible howl in my empty office. The pumas must be monitored for the good of the whole.

Read the rest here: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/college/collegespecial9/adp-essaymell.html