So, if you’ve been following the MSM of late, you’d get the feeling that Obama’s popularity is in free fall. That it’s some sort of death spiral that no president can pull out of. While I’m sure he’s losing some support – who wants to be pals with somebody who gets screamed at all the time? It’d be like having to hang around with one of those eunuchs on Hollywood Husbands – there’s a point that seems to have been completely ignored.
As low as Obama is, the GOP is lower. From John Amato over at Crooks and Liars:
We constantly are seeing polling down from the major news services that follow President Obama’s approval ratings and it is an important stat to keep track of, but can you tell me what the media is not covering? How low the Republicans have been polling ever since they became the party of “Waterloo.”
The Democratic leaders do have terrible polling numbers, Nancy Pelosi has a 34% approval rating in DKOS’s new poll and Harry Reid has a 31% approval rating, but let’s take a look at the Republican leadership, shall we?
Mitch McConnell is polling at an 18% approval rating. That’s eighteen percent. John Boehner is polling at 12% approval rating. Just think about that one. And it doesn’t take much to make him cry. Mitch and Boehner are viewed less favorably than Dick Cheney was during the dark days of the Bush administration. Why don’t we hear about that on teevee?
The overall approval ratings of Congressional Republicans is 17% as a party! The Dems are taking their lumps over this chaotic time, but nowhere near the kinds of wounds the GOP are suffering. The media make it appear that all these teabaggers are rallying around the RNC and the country just loves the Beltway elites’ favorite party, but that’s not true at all.
Let’s see if we hear any of this on the Sunday talk Shows. But I won’t hold my breath.
It’s an incredibly valid point.
Couple it with the numbers that Letterman pulled from Obama’s recent visit. 7.2 million. Think about that – 7.2 million people stayed up past their bed time to hear what the President had to say about health care, and mostly, remind themselves as to why they voted for him in the first place. The “I was black before the election” line was both hilarious and courageous.
So, what to do with this? Well:
- If you’re the GOP, you might want to look inward, my sons. Sarah Palin’s ridiculous behavior in Asia, John Boehner’s orange-faced arrogance, Eric Cantor’s snickering, Joe Wilson’s recreational racist outburst, All of this nonsense, coupled by Beck and Hannity and Limbaugh going unchecked by the mainstream Republicans in the party. They might be able to tick some of Obama’s numbers down, but they are burying their own to do it.
- If you’re a Dem, you’re not thrilled, but this is something to take heart over. Elections are graded on a curve. You don’t need to have a certain amount of votes to get an “A,” the highest number wins. And if you look at the polling, there’s nothing in there for the GOP be doing an endzone dance about.
Look – Pelosi and Reid suck – and if they had any kind of political acumen at all, they would be kicking the crap out of their opponents. 22% still think the GOP is doing a good job? My Spidey-sense says that’s the evangelical vote, and those hard cores aren’t going anywhere. They will always either vote conservative, or stay home.
My take away? It means the Dems should stick to the core message. Even if it’s less popular than it was months ago, it’s still — according to the numbers – the best looking girl at the dance.
The debate might be grinding into a less civil paste with every news cycle, but it’s grinding everybody in the same direction. And at the bottom of that grind, is the GOP.
You might not have known that.
Now you do.
