the war on dissent

[theknife]

drowning in a flood of bad polls, the Prez is in the midst of a pr offensive (who said this adminstration doesn't watch the polls?). a new poll by the American Research Group has Bush's approval rating at just 36% - actually lower than Nixon's (39%) at the depth of the Watergate scandal. apparently demonizing the majority of the American public is part of the White House strategy:

Meeting briefly with reporters Monday aboard Air Force One, Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman subbing for Scott McClellan, said that President Bush believes that those who want the U.S. to begin to change course in Iraq do not want America to win the overall "war on terror."

this is obviously nonsense, but it is the kind of nonsense one might expect from the last throes of a failed presidency. depending which poll you look at, the majority of the public think the war was a mistake that has made the country less safer and only 38% approve of the way Bush is handling the war in Iraq. so the inference from the bunker-mentality tone of the administration's spin is clear: if you're not with Bush, you're against America. it's the old Joe McCarthy cheapshot - obviously, they're desperate, but will insulting the patriotism of the majority of the American public score any points?

at any rate, if the public is dissatisfied with the war, wait till they see the bill:

if the American military presence in the region lasts another five years, the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States.

what a deal - over a trillion dollars, thousands of American casualties, tens of thousands of iraqi casualties - all will be spent to install an Islamic government in Iraq. so that's what they all got killed for.