<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://www.salon.com/politics/conason/2002/10/28/bush/print.html">http://www.salon.com/politics/conason/2002/10/28/bush/print.html</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2><FONT size=5>Joe Conason's Journal<BR></FONT><FONT size=3>Bush's sagging poll numbers. Plus: Jeb panders to the evangelicals.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Oct. 28, 2002  | </FONT> <FONT face="times new roman, times, serif" size=3><B>Bad numbers</B><BR>Buried in a paragraph on page A4 of last Friday's Wall Street Journal (unfortunately the Journal's Website is only available to subscribers) was an important point I've made since last spring (to the annoyance of every Republican within earshot). As the Republicans nationalize the midterm with the "wartime president" rambling around in nonstop campaign mode, it bears reiteration today: George W. Bush's favorable job ratings don't reflect any burning desire among voters to award him a second term. In fact, he remains well below 50 percent in that latter category, where he has been marooned for months. </P> <P>The latest NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll shows that although his performance ratings are just above 60 percent, only 45 percent say that they will "probably" vote for Bush in 2004. "Nearly half either say they'll likely back a Democrat, or that their choice 'depends' on Bush's rival." (If you think this question is irrelevant, please explain why pollsters across the spectrum spend thousands of dollars retrieving the answer.) </P> <P>Democratic pollster Peter Hart and his Republican colleague Bob Teeter agree that if the presidential election were held now, Bush "could face as competitive a race as the one he faced in 2000." Meanwhile, as we enter the last week of this campaign, public opinion about the president's handling of the economy is fast souring. At the White House they're in trouble and they know it. </P> <P><B>Rendering unto Jeb</B><BR>That trouble includes the possible return of "little brother" to the private sector next January. Jeb Bush has been out trolling for votes amongst <A href="http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_d3cbecae669b70fa00c5.html" target=new>the fundamentalists.</A> He tells the Christian Coalition pamphleteers that Jesus is his "personal saviour," and they tell the gullible that the governor is a "real Christian," as if the Almighty had personally informed them that McBride is an infidel. But what the right-wing activists neglected to explain as they handed out their Florida voter guides is how Jesus would have regarded a Tallahassee Caesar with <A href="http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=LL&Date=20021028&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=210280345&Ref=AR&Profile=1004" target=new>a bogus "blind trust,"</A> <A href="http://www.vnunet.com/News/1136331" target=new>a dubious sibling </A>hawking <A href="http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=LL&Date=20021028&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=210280359&Ref=AR&Profile=1003&SectionCat=NEWS01" target=new>"educational" software,</A> and strangely convenient relationships with big campaign donors like <A href="http://www.wfts.com/stories/2002/10/021027plant.shtml" target=new>the company</A> putting up an environmentally unsound cement plant near a sensitive, beloved river. Or are all those issues outside the realm of Pat Robertson's golden-calf theology? <BR></P></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><FONT size=3>Links:</FONT></STRONG> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>the fundamentalists </FONT><A href="http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_d3cbecae669b70fa00c5.html"><FONT face=Arial size=2>http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_d3cbecae669b70fa00c5.html</FONT></A></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"educational" software <A href="http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=LL&Date=20021028&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=210280359&Ref=AR&Profile=1003&SectionCat=NEWS01">http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=LL&Date=20021028&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=210280359&Ref=AR&Profile=1003&SectionCat=NEWS01</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>the company <A href="http://www.wfts.com/stories/2002/10/021027plant.shtml">http://www.wfts.com/stories/2002/10/021027plant.shtml</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV></FONT></FONT> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"I can't believe I just said that." - George W. Bush July 30, 2002 caught off-camera after signing the corporate anti-fraud bill and giving a speech where he said that from now on, those who commit securities frauds and shred documents are going to jail. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>