Truespeak

Last month it looked as though Georgieboy had hit rock bottom when CBS showed him polling at a 34% job approval rating. When this month's CBS poll showed him still at 34%, I was pretty convinced that this was about as low as he could go. But today the Pew Research Center has him at an abysmal 33%.

In the aftermath of the Dubai ports deal, President Bush's approval rating has hit a new low and his image for honesty and effectiveness has been damaged. Yet the public uncharacteristically has good things to say about the role that Congress played in this high-profile Washington controversy.

Most Americans (58%) believe Congress acted appropriately in strenuously opposing the deal, while just 24% say lawmakers made too much of the situation. While there is broad support for the way Congress handled the dispute, more Americans think Democratic leaders showed good judgment on the ports issue than say the same about GOP leaders (by 30%-20%).

The new Pew survey underscores the public's alarm over the prospect that an Arab-owned company could have operated U.S. ports. Fully 41% say they paid very close attention to news about the debate, which is unusually high interest for a Washington story and is only slightly lower than the number tracking Iraq war news very closely (43%). There was broad opposition to the proposed deal from across the political spectrum, including two-to-one disapproval among conservative Republicans (56%-27%).

Bush's overall approval measure stands at 33%, the lowest rating of his presidency.

Part of the reason I didn't think his numbers could go any lower is because he's always going to have the hardcore Republicans on his side. These are the people that would vote for a criminal as long as he was running as a Republican. People like Judy Deats who said "Right now, I wouldn't vote Democratic if Jesus Christ was running." (She was voicing her support for Tom DeLay.) But according to the Pew Center, even his base is leaving him.

Oh, how the mighty keep falling.

So I guess the question remains: How low can he go? Any predictions?