by TChris

A snapshot of recent opinion:

From CBS News (Tuesday):

President Bush's overall approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, 44 percent, in the latest CBS News poll, reflecting the weight of instability in Iraq on public opinion of Mr. Bush even as the economy shows signs of improvement.

From the Pew Center (May 3-9):

President George W. Bush's job approval rating fell to 44 percent, a 4-point drop, following revelations that U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners, a poll by the Pew Center for the People and the Press shows.

An MSNBC headline, reporting on the Pew poll: Pollsters: Kerry aside, Bush is in trouble.

Reuters: Bush's poll numbers hitting the danger zone. From the article:

Low approval and re-election numbers are particularly bad for an incumbent, who already is well known to voters. Undecided voters, who have had plenty of time to evaluate the incumbent, often break heavily for the challenger.

But it's only May.

by TChris

Can one person make a difference? It's easy to feel hopeless and overwhelmed, but Dick Dorworth reminds us that it's possible for one person to change the world.

Gandhi broke the back and spirit of British imperialism and created modern India.

Martin Luther King broke the back (but, sad to say, not the spirit) of institutionalized racism in America.

David Brower kept the Grand Canyon from being dammed.

Renee Askins got wolves re-introduced into Yellowstone and the American West.

An unknown Chinese man once stopped a tank in Tienanmen Square by simply standing his ground.

Daniel Ellesberg shortened the war in Vietnam by many months, if not years.

Someone leaked the photos of American military personnel torturing Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.

Some changes can only be made if we act together, but the individual act of voting can make a profound difference. Remember that, in November, a few minutes of your time can change the direction of our country.

Vote Kerry.

Update: Chalabi changes his story. Now he says Saddam won't be turned over by June 30 and won't be tried before 2005. [post title changed to reflect this]

Salem Chalabi, the chief director of the Iraqi tribunal that will try Saddam Hussein, says he and other top members of the regime now in U.S. custody will be turned over to the tribunal before June 30, and that the death penalty may be used.

US-led forces will hand over Saddam Hussein and top officials of his former regime to the Iraqis before the handover of power, a top lawyer who is coordinating the toppled dictator's trial said today. ''The coalition forces now have more than 100 detained former regime officials,'' Salem Chalabi told reporters in Kuwait. ''They will be transferred to us before the transfer of power, and they include Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majid and Tareq Aziz.'' Washington has pledged to hand sovereignty to an unelected Iraqi government by June 30.

Chalabi says trials are expected to begin early next year, and that Saddam may not be first in the dock. Excuse us for being cynical, but we won't be shocked if President Bush convinces the tribunal to move the trials up to October, try Saddam first to get a quick death verdict against him just in time for the election. Then again, if Bush pulls Osama out of his hat in July or August as we expect he will, he may feel he doesn't need Saddam for that purpose. Unless, of course, the polls show him and Kerry still in a statistical dead heat.

by TChris

A weekend survey by CNN found that only 46 percent of those surveyed approved of President Bush's job performance -- the lowest rating Bush has received in the CNN poll. Only 44 percent believe the war in Iraq was worthwhile (another low), while just 41 percent believe that Bush has been doing a good job handling the war.

Only 37 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the United States -- a sharp drop from early January, when 55 percent said they were satisfied. Those findings had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Only 41 percent of voters said they thought Bush was doing a good job handling the economy.

Although widespread opinion that the President can't do anything right should be good news for John Kerry, the poll showed that likely voters are still about evenly split between the two candidates.

by TChris

With nearly half of all probable voters seemingly incapable of recognizing evil when it seizes the Presidency, it is important for progressives to enlist the support of new voters. You can help by supporting America Votes.

America Votes is a new coalition of many of the largest membership-based groups in the country, who have come together to increase voter registration, education and participation in electoral politics. This historic partnership represents a combined membership of more than 20 million Americans in every state in the country. Groups that are part of America Votes work on a broad range of issues including environmental protection, education, human and civil rights, women's rights, choice and labor.

America Votes is seeking volunteers in 17 states tomorrow for Election Action Day, the start of a six month campaign to register and educate new voters. Help them if you can.

With the President of Jordan at his side, President Bush issued an apology for U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners. John Kerry responds:

As president, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command," Kerry said. "I will demand accountability for those who serve and I will take responsibility for their actions. And I will do everything that I can in my power to repair the damage that this has caused to America to our standing in the world and to the ideals for which we stand."

Kerry also called for Rumsfeld to resign:

It's the way it was handled. The lack of information to the Congress, the lack of information to the country, not managing it, not dealing with it, recognizing it as an issue. But look this is, this is the frosting," Kerry said. "I think Iraq and the miscalculation and the overextension of the armed forces and the entire way in which they rushed the nation to war under these assumptions that he was making - which were incorrect - is a huge, historic miscalculation and I thought he should have resigned then."

Bush says Rumsfeld will remain in his cabinet. Just another reason to Boot Bush. Give today.

We were excited yesterday to receive an invitation to apply for press credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer. We submitted our application immediately to the DNCC and the Periodical Press Galleries. Today, were received an e-mail from the Press Galleries turning us down. Our offense? We lobby/tesify to Congress on proposed and existing legislation. True enough. Here's the rule:

.... they shall declare that, while a member of the Galleries, they will not .... become engaged or assist, directly or indirectly, in any lobbying, promotion, advertising, or publicity activity intended to influence legislation or any other action of the Congress, nor any matter before any independent agency, or any department or other instrumentality of the Executive branch; and that they will not act as an agent for, or be employed by the Federal, or any State, local or foreign government or representatives thereof; .....

Now our hope lies with the DNCC--unless we can get a cable tv news station, newspaper, online news service or magazine to sponsor us.

by TChris

A broadcast on Voice of America scheduled for tomorrow, part of a series on American history, quotes Andrew Jackson. He was speaking in 1832, but his words ring true today.

"It is to be regretted," he said, "that the rich and powerful bend the acts of the government to their own purposes. Differences among men will always exist under every just government. Equality of ability, or education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. Every man has the equal right of protection under the laws. But when these laws are used to make the rich richer, and the powerful more powerful, then the more humble members of our society have a right to complain of injustice."

Hmm. The rich and powerful bending the acts of government to make the rich richer and the powerful more powerful. Sound familiar?

by TChris

In the Bush administration, image is everything. The administration always hopes that voters won't notice the disconnect between image and reality, so it shouldn't be surprising that the President is rarely on the bus as he makes his celebrated bus tour of Ohio.

The dirty little secret of President Bush's bus tour is that he didn't spend much time on the bus. An hour or so on Tuesday was all he logged, though that seemed plenty for the startled residents of some small towns in rural parts of Ohio, who had never seen a motorcade quite like this one. After all, it is not every day you see three buses moving along on back roads, preceded and followed by Chevy Suburbans carrying men with large guns, and helicopters overhead. One woman who was mowing her lawn ran indoors, leaving the lawn mower idling in her yard.

Since the President's reelection efforts are impeding traffic and scaring the locals, it's probably a good thing that he isn't on the bus all that often. The best take comes from Craig Kilborn:

"President Bush has traded in Air Force One for this customized bus to campaign in the swing states of Ohio and Michigan. Nothing convinces people that the economy's good like a President riding the bus."

Joe Conason, writing in Salon, says:

The "swift boat" veterans attacking John Kerry's war record are led by veteran right-wing operatives using the same vicious techniques they used against John McCain four years ago....Behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are veteran corporate media consultant and Texas Republican activist Merrie Spaeth, who is listed as the group's media contact; eternal Kerry antagonist and Dallas attorney John E. O'Neill, law partner of Spaeth's late husband, Tex Lezar; and retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, a cigar-chomping former Vietnam commander once described as "the classic body-count guy" who "wanted hooches destroyed and people killed."

Conason will be a fixture on Al Franken's Air America radio show on Friday afternoons at 2pm ET.

My DD's Chris Bowers compares the electabilty factors for Wesley Clark and John Edwards as running mate for John Kerry. He concludes Edwards is the better choice. We agree.

Update: CNN analysis of the veepstakes is here.

While we were out of town, several California countines banned touch screen voting. Jeanne at Body and Soul has a good recap of the issue and news and blog coverage.