melting!

(He's in there somewhere...) 

Dear Preznint Potemkin,

How's that brilliant Veto plan working out for ya, Sparky? 

Newsweek:

May 5, 2007 - It’s hard to say which is worse news for Republicans: that George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation, or that he seems to be dragging every ’08 Republican presidential candidate down with him. But According to the new NEWSWEEK Poll, the public’s approval of Bush has sunk to 28 percent, an all-time low for this president in our poll, and a point lower than Gallup recorded for his father at Bush Sr.’s nadir. The last president to be this unpopular was Jimmy Carter who also scored a 28 percent approval in 1979. This remarkably low rating seems to be casting a dark shadow over the GOP’s chances for victory in ’08.

Actually, if things continue to go like they are, I think that dark shadow might stretch out for three or four generations. 

Honestly, I thought the little weasel broke 30% some time last year, but it looks like now even some of the dead-enders are either peeling off or keeling over dead because they can't get their medications anymore (Thanks, new Medicare Drug Plan!).

But how low, exactly, is 28 percent?

Let's crunch some numbers, shall we, kids?

It's three points ahead of Michael Jackson.  Michael Jackson, bedmate of little boys and world-class screwball. One in four Americans -- 25 percent -- told Gallup polltakers last June they were still Jackson fans after the onetime King of Pop was found not guilty of child molesting.

It's a point below wife-murderers.  Less popular than former football star O.J. Simpson was after his arrest and trial for murdering his estranged wife and her companion. Three in 10 -- 29 percent -- of all Americans had a favorable view of Simpson in an October, 1995 Gallup poll.

Much less popular than former Vice President Spiro Agnew in his final days in office. Forty-five percent approved of the job that Agnew was doing as President Richard Nixon's veep in a Gallup Poll conducted in August 1973, little more than a month before Agnew resigned and pleaded no contest to a criminal tax evasion charge arising from a bribery investigation.

Far less popular than former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey days after he announced in August 2004 that he had engaged in an extramarital affair with a man and would resign. His job approval rating bumped from 43 to 45 percent.

But perhaps most tellingly:

Only four little points above Richard Nixon at his resignation.  President Richard Nixon's approval rating fell as the Watergate scandal became public in the first half of 1973, and was at about 25 percent during 1974.

Not to mention:

Eight points lower than Big Dog's lowest.  Bill Clinton’s lowest rating during his presidency was 36 percent.

And:

Five points behind Al Gore.  Despite a spate of publicity around his involvement in the Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," only a third (33 percent) of registered voters want to see him run again.

Mmmm.  Crunchy numbers.  Delicious!

And as for old Lame Duck up there, I believe this poll bears out Mr. Atrios when he says, "He's stupid and he's ugly and nobody likes him."

Can we please just impeach him now?  It won't take long, I swear.  Just a bit of commotion in the wings, a snapping sound, a muffled squawk from offstage, and after that we're golden.