Truespeak

You may remember that Ross Perot coined the phrase "giant sucking sound" during a debate over NAFTA with then Vice President Al Gore. (By the way, does anybody know what ever happened to the H at the beginning of Perot's name?) At the time Perot was referring to American jobs moving to Mexico, however I think the phrase can be currently applied to the Bush administration's popularity. According to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll, Bush is headed down the drain.

Exactly half the country now approves of the way Bush is managing the U.S. war on terrorism, down 13 percentage points since April, according to the poll. Barely two months ago, Bush comfortably led Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, by 21 points when voters were asked which man they trusted to deal with the terrorist threat. Today the country is evenly divided, with 48 percent preferring Kerry and 47 percent favoring Bush.

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Bush's overall job approval rating held steady at 47 percent, at its lowest point in Post-ABC News polls, while his disapproval rating reached a new high of 51 percent. That leaves Bush in a shaky position politically, based on the rankings of other recent presidents seeking reelection.

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The survey found that Kerry's advantages over Bush extended to a range of issues. When asked which they trusted to do the better job, Kerry held a double-digit advantage over Bush as the candidate the public preferred to deal with health care (21 points), taxes (13 points), prescription drug benefits for the elderly (12 points) and education (10 points), and smaller leads on handling international affairs (8 points), the economy (5 points) and the federal budget deficit (4 points).

In only one area -- Iraq -- was Bush more trusted, 50 percent to 45 percent.

The president is viewed as a stronger leader than Kerry and as the candidate who can be most trusted in a crisis. He is also seen as best able to "make the country safer and more secure" and the one who "takes a position and sticks with it."

But by 52 percent to 39 percent, Kerry is seen as more honest and trustworthy -- a troubling finding for Bush, whose truthfulness before the war in Iraq has been called into question.

If you've been following this blog (and according to my counter not many people have) you'll know that I've spent a lot of time discussing George W. Bush's truthfulness or, more appropriately, his lack of. Judging by these poll numbers more and more people are seeing through his deceits. The White House's lies and secrets are finally beginning to catch up to them.

Could it be the lack of WMDs that is finally doing him in? Maybe it's the continued instability of the situation in Iraq. Could it be the fact that Osama bin Laden has never been captured? It could be the abuse scandal that now appears on the brink of reaching to the highest powers in Washington. Still though, it could just be the fact that he continues to make poor, uninformed choices. Or maybe he's just a jackass, who knows?

Regardless of what the reason is, Bush is floundering. He is drowning in a sea of his own lies and secrets. The only thing that I think could save him would be the bin Laden life preserver. I expect to see it thrown in before November.

For more opinion on Bush and his lies check out this article from the L.A. Times.