The Next Open Thread

by DemFromCT

High winds are wreaking havoc with my power supply. Flickering computers lend themselves to very short posts.

Chgeck out the latest rundown in the unpopular President's stuck in the basement poll numbers pre-SOTU. He's running 39-43 as usual. The WaPo remains an outlier IMHO, though there may be outliers in the other direction, too  from time to time (like Harris 34% in Nov).

The 'real' number is of course dynamic, but let not this nonsense about 'comeback' continue. Bush's approvals will have a mini-bounce after SOTU and sink back by February.

Comments

[Kagro X]

C. Boyden Gray's going to Brussels. On a recess appointment, which makes him a kind of Euro-Bolton.

[emptypockets]

Seems like I can't turn a page in the Times without reading about the surreptitiously fictionalized autobiography "A Million Little Pieces." Summary of their coverage this week (my search may have missed some):

Jan 17 1 article
1 column
2 wire
7 letters
Jan 15 1 article
1 column
Jan 14 1 article
1 column
1 brief
Jan 13 1 column
Jan 12 1 article
1 column
Jan 11 1 front-page article
1 article
1 column

Why is the Times expending so much coverage on a (relatively uninteresting) story about someone exaggerating or fictionalizing their facts?

There has been a similar recent spate of articles on fraud in scientific publishing. That seems to have attracted their attention less -- perhaps because in that case the perpetrators are not getting away with it.

This may be a subconscious fixation at the Times with made-up reporting in general and those who are forgiven for it in particular. Or it may be a nice lesson in how a newspaper can conduct a political campaign (in this case on its own behalf) merely by choosing which stories to cover, and how often to write about them.

[DemFromCT]

gallup:

PRINCETON, NJ -- Jan. 20 marks the beginning of George W. Bush's sixth year in office, closing the book on a rough fifth year. After beginning his second term with a 51% job approval rating, Bush's rating fell to as low as 37% in November, establishing a new personal low. His rating has recovered somewhat in recent weeks and currently stands at 43%, according to a Jan. 9-12 Gallup Poll. However, the marks for Bush's most recent year and most recent quarter in office are the worst of his presidency.

For the year beginning Jan. 20, 2005, and ending Jan. 19, 2006, Bush averaged a 45.8% job approval rating. After getting a short-lived bump to 57% following the successful Iraqi elections in late January, Bush's approval rating fell to the low 50s by mid-February. It stayed below 50% after early May and dipped below 40% in mid-October. In mid-November, just 37% approved of Bush, the lowest mark of his presidency. By early December, Bush's approval rating began to show signs of recovery, and it has held steady in the low 40s since then.

[DemFromCT]

more gallup:

Not only is Bush's fifth year average of 45.8% the worst of his presidency, it (along with Bill Clinton's similar 46.0% average in 1994-1995) is also the lowest for any president in over a decade. The last president with a lower yearly average was Bush's father, the elder George Bush, who averaged 41.2% in 1992-1993.

[emptypockets]

DemFromCT, is this bird flu money just going to add profits at drug companies, who will be able to raise prices now that their consumers have new drug-buying grants -- or is that kind of price-gouging prevented somehow?