A great new campaign from Women’s Voices, Women Vote on the importance of women’s involvement in the political process.  And a challenge: can you spot Digby?

The WaPo is touting a new WaPo/ABC News poll that says Americans really want a change.  Well…duh.  Anyone who has spoken to any group of Americans in the last few years already knew that, but I suppose having statistical validation of the disgust, unease and outright hostility toward the Beltway Classes is useful.  There are, however, a couple of points that I want to emphasize:

Concern about the economy, the war in Iraq and growing dissatisfaction with the political environment in Washington all contribute to the lowest public assessment of the direction of the country in more than a decade. Just 24 percent think the nation is on the right track, and three-quarters said they want the next president to chart a course that is different than that pursued by Bush.

Overwhelmingly, Democrats want a new direction, but so do three-quarters of independents and even half of Republicans. Sixty percent of all Americans said they feel strongly that such a change is needed after two terms of the Bush presidency.

Dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq remains a primary drag on public opinion, and Americans are increasingly downcast about the state of the economy. More than six in 10 called the war not worth fighting, and nearly two-thirds gave the national economy negative marks. The outlook going forward is also bleak: About seven in 10 see a recession as likely over the next year….

Thirty-nine percent of Americans said they now have a favorable impression of the Republican Party, lower than at any point since December 1998, when Republicans were in the midst of impeachment proceedings against then-President Bill Clinton.

Among the GOP rank and file, Republican favorability has fallen 15 percentage points since March 2006 (from 93 percent to 78 percent). It has dropped 19 points among independents, whose support for Democratic candidates in last year’s midterm elections contributed significantly to GOP losses in the House and the Senate.

Only 23 percent of those surveyed said they want to keep going “in the direction Bush has been taking us,”…

The Democratic Party holds double-digit leads over the GOP as the party most trusted to handle the three most frequently cited issues for 2008: Iraq, health care and the economy. The Democratic advantages on immigration and taxes are narrower, and the parties are at rough parity on terrorism, once a major Republican strong point.   (emphasis mine)

The Republican tendency to fail at governing has caught up with them.  Again.  It seems that you have to believe in government as something other than a supply mechanism for military incursions in order to do it well.  The results of corporate welfare and self-regulation are evident from the mortgage crisis to the lead paint on your baby rattles to your workplace non-safety to that bridge you won’t drive over any more until someone scares up the money to shore it up.  And a whole host of issues that impact our daily lives from potholes to cost of groceries.  

It’s time that Democrats started listening to Jane:  On Image, Part I and Part II.  “Until they are willing to organize and do battle with the beast where it lives they will continue to be scattered and picked off one by one by the GOP machine and no amount of “comity” will ever change it.”  Amen.  Could we start by standing up for the Constitution?  ‘Cause that would be swell…

Related posts:

  1. New Gallup Poll Finds Republican Party Less Popular Than Russia, China, Venezuela
  2. Pew Poll: Americans Losing Patience with Congress
  3. Obama’s Numbers Driving Democrats Down
  4. Americans Care More About Having Public Option than Gaining Snowe’s Vote
  5. GOP Fearmongering Succeeds in Casting Doubt on Legitimacy of the Electoral Process