Sinking Ship

The loathsome one speaks:

“The victory of Democrat Tim Kaine over Republican Jerry Kilgore was the only contest in scattered off-year elections that was carefully monitored on Capitol Hill. For a liberal Virginian to win a Southern red state signaled that cherished Republican majorities in both House and Senate, plus all the perquisites they entail, could be lost in 2006. Eyeing the Democratic landslide in suburban northern Virginia just over the Potomac from Washington that gave Lt. Gov. Kaine the governorship, Republicans in Congress envision their own doom.

The antidote to avoid that fate is to keep as far away from President Bush as possible, a lesson underlined by the president's failed election rescue mission for former Virginia state Attorney General Kilgore. The consequences may be profound. As his approval rating dipped, Bush increasingly has been treated in Congress as a lame duck. Tuesday's Virginia outcome increases the propensity of Republican senators and House members not only to avoid their president on the campaign trail but also to ignore his legislative proposals…

After avoiding the president on Bush's recent visit to Norfolk, a desperate Kilgore asked for eleventh-hour help. The Monday night appearance in Richmond by a dispirited and exhausted Bush, returning from his difficult Latin America trip, was a dud.”

Uh-oh!

Meanwhile, Fineman reports on the Dems’ new wedge strategy, to expose and/or create “friction between: Bush and Cheney, Bush and his political advisor, Karl Rove; the White House and the Republican-run Congress; and between competing Republican leadership tongs on Capitol Hill.” That tasty little bit of mindfucking has Harry Reid’s fingerprints all over it.

And finally, President Edward John Smith’s approval ratings have hit yet another all-time low, with the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showing him with a 38% approval rating, which marks the third consecutive NBC/WSJ poll where he’s reached a new low. “Approval for his handling of the economy (34 percent), foreign policy (35 percent), terrorism (39 percent), and Iraq (32 percent) have all hit rock bottom.” And speaking of rock bottom, the number of Americans who believe Bush is honest and straightforward has dropped 17 percentage points since January 2005. Ouch.