Bush Country Shrinking

A poll was released yesterday by the highly-respected SurveyUSA showing President Bush's approval ratings in all 50 states. Fitting with the general mood of the country, his support has plummeted nation-wide to 43% just 7 months after re-election. In only 11 states did Bush have even majority approval, including Mississippi, Kentucky, and his home state of Texas all where he was right at 50%. Meanwhile, in two states Bush won, both Ohio and Nevada, a truly staggering 57% outright disapproved of his presidency.

Of course, a few states did stand out for their reluctance to rethink their support. Utah had the highest support for Bush at 63%, but our beloved Nebraska was right behind as the only other state with a 60% approval rate. Who knows - if Nebraskans continue to put party label before the truth for long enough, we might just be able to pull ahead of Utah as the best-duped state in the nation.

Note that these numbers were released before Bush's evasive speech last night on the increasingly disastrous war in Iraq, where Bush again revealed his complete inability to see the situation outside the bubble of his own rhetoric. For a good ol' boy with such down-home charm, you'd think Bush would remember that little bit of country wisdom about crapping in one hand, wishing in another, and seeing which one is filled the fastest. Right now, we are in a load of crap in Iraq and the Bush Administration seems intent to pile-up even more by refusing to consider a different strategy less reliant on the Blue Fairy and pixie dust.

Well, Bush can go ahead with this mental constipation, but the American people - at least, outside Mormon and Husker country - have obviously gotten a whiff of this one and aren't happy. They're demanding a leader with eyes open and an actual grasp on reality. Until we get that, there's going to be a whole lot more suffering on every side...in every state...and, yes, that includes Nebraska.