Democracy Arsenal

« UN Reform Issue Spotlight: Human Rights | Main | Can the Center Hold at the UN »

September 08, 2005

Free-Fall and the Court
Posted by Michael Signer

A new Pew poll's out today.  The President's in trouble:

Two-in-three Americans (67 percent) believe he could have done more to speed up relief efforts, while just 28 percent think he did all he could to get them going quickly. At the same time, Bush’s overall job approval rating has slipped to 40 percent and his disapproval rating has climbed to 52 percent, among the highest for his presidency. Uncharacteristically, the president’s ratings have slipped most among his core constituents – Republicans and conservatives.

Wow.  40%.  That's low.  And it means the President is going to be on the defense, politically, not just about the hurricane, but about everything political, for a good while.  Which means Democrats may have an opportunity not only to work on productive legislation here -- they may be in a better position than they thought re. the Supreme Court.

My pet theory about all of this is that, prior to Katrina, the President had already lavishly squandered his political capital (when he said he'd spend it, no kidding, it's spent).  His approval rating was already in the low-40's, pre-hurricane.  Now, he's likely to free-fall even farther, and faster (my high school physics notwithstanding -- would he actually fall at the same rate???).

To turn from the aching pain of New Orleans to the soothingly anodyne topic of the Supreme Court, I think this means that the President is going to have a more difficult time replacing Justice O'Connor with an extreme right-winger.

Manchurian
Unless, of course, John Roberts is a Manchurian Candidate, or something like it, as some of our more charmingly suspicious friends seem to suspect

He does have that weirdly saccharine grin, and that perma-tan, after all...

Hmmm...

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451c04d69e200d83459071753ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Free-Fall and the Court:

Comments

"Now, he's likely to free-fall even farther, and faster (my high school physics notwithstanding -- would he actually fall at the same rate???)."

...given bush's particular genius for stepping on his own... (yes, I know it's rude),
he should be the first body to surpass 10 m/s2. which might have a negative effect in another president, but the “liberal media” that has given him a pass since his first term will probably continue to do so.

i've read similar takes on the SCOTUS issue. my thought is that bush will want his presidency to be known for something "positive" and so will appoint an arch-conservative.


Gotta disagree re the "next" SCOTUS nomination: I'd say John Roberts for CJ is as close to a "lock" as any nomination is likely to get these days: I'd look for any "grilling" he might get before a full-Senate vote to be perfunctory at worst. The big fun, though, will, as you say, come with the O'Connor replacement nomination. Bush (or, more accurately, his handlers) is in a real pickle: nominate a conservative centrist, and get the frothing-wingnut "base" upset, or put up an extremist, and run the even bigger risk of having him/her rejected. The latter, IMO, is by far the bigger pitfall for the Republicans. Bush's political "capital", as you point out, is a pretty thin commodity: having a SCOTUS nomination dumped will probably not only trash what is left of Dubya's rep; but expose the GOP's hard-core, right-wing "base" for what it is: a decidedly minority philosophy in this country, wielding its (exaggerated) influence solely through polical gamesmanship and bloc voting (as loyal supporters of President Kerry have come to realize).
Of course, for the "rejection" scenario to come true, you have to posit that 6 or 7 Republican Senators will be willing to defy the Rovian Juggernaut; which is another matter altogether.


Bush is the Manchurian Candidate. Not McCain.

Welcom to play the game,i like to earn the 9 Dragons gold,and i like to play with my friends to buy 9 Dragons gold together.Even though there is a lot of equipment of me, but i do not satisfy my these equipment so i go to buy some new equipment with the cheap 9Dragons gold. I often introduce the game to my friends and ask them if you want to have a lot of 9Dragons money,you can play the game well.Come on and join us to play the game.

I hope i can get rs gold in low price.

If you have Atlantica online Gold, you can get more. If you gave Atlantica Gold to me, I still have my idea to achieve.

I hope i can get wakfu kamas in low price,
Yesterday i bought wakfu gold for my friend.

In fact, the
buy shaiya gold is expensive. I usually find
shaiya online goldfrom the supplier.

i do not know he spend how much money to buy the Atlantica online money, when i see him in order to play the game and search which the place can buy the cheap Atlantica online Gold. i also happy with him.

Thank you for your sharing.! seslichat seslisohbet

The comments to this entry are closed.

Subscribe
Sign-up to receive a weekly digest of the latest posts from Democracy Arsenal.
Email: 
Powered by TypePad

Disclaimer

The opinions voiced on Democracy Arsenal are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views of any other organization or institution with which any author may be affiliated.
Read Terms of Use
<