What is the criteria of the 28%? This is well beyond republican and democrat and is into a question of basic competence. Also, 6 times as many people believe that Bill Clinton would be more likely to make a politically unpopular decision if it hurt him than believed the same of George Washington. Mr "I will follow the polls until I die" vs the man that understood that all of his actions would set precedent until the end of the Republic. How'd they find such a singularly clueless bunch of dopes to respond to a poll?
I think that part of the poll reveals the historical ignorance of Americans more than anything else. It went in descending order of Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy, Lincoln, FDR, and Washington - almost a direct path backwards in history. And of course the responses for Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were probably below the margin of error, significant considering those two are probably the best answers to that question. And I find it strange that people think he isn't "politically courageous." He's probably one of the more idealistic presidents we've had. It's just that his concept of what's "right" is hopelessly myopic.
"Idealistic" and "Courageous" are not the same thing. Clinton had as much courage as the overnight polling told him he should. It was always the biggest problem I had with him; the firm conviction that if he thought lying would get him out of a situation better than having integrity and telling the truth, then he would lie. It is this attitude more than anything else that ruined what was in many other ways a successful presidency.
Although the two terms aren't synonymous, I think they correspond. Generally, our more "courageous" presidents tend to hold on to their opinions when the country might turn against them - an idealistic tendency. And Rove played up this "courage" to stick to your guns alot during the '04 campaign. It just wasn't marketed as idealism, since idealism goes against the conservative movement in its very definition. I should clarify that I'm talking about political courage, the kind specified in the poll. Obviously courage in foreign policy or whatever is completely different and open to a different set of interpretations.
While I agree with much of what you say, I find that people either are courageous or are not. IMO Clinton was not- not personally, not politically, not professionally. He was brilliant and perhaps the best natural politician of his generation, but he was not courageous.
Clinton basically pioneered Third Way politics. I don't know how you can possibly call that courageous.
No seriously; 28 - 28!!!!! - out of every 100 US citizens look at this POTUS and say, "Great job!"? That's madness. This POTUS approval rating should be in the low teens, among insane fanatics...maybe we have more lunatics than first thought.
Oh yeah, I certainly don't dispute that. Anyone who said that Clinton was our most politically courageous president is exhibiting an appalling amount of historical ineptitude.
It cant be long until the Republican leadership realizes that helping get this moron impeached will help their 2008 candidate. The Dems may end up delaying or avoiding impeachment of Bush unless Cheney goes first.
Many people, like my dozens of psycho Texas cousins that I left behind in that state of my birth, supported Bush up until last year and only stopped because they thought they were on the losing team and couldn't stand the embarassment. The second another right-winger with a drawl comes on the scene, they'll be all over him like flies on shit. This is NOT something that sunsets with Bush. This is a battle against American Fascism, and it isn't going away any time soon.
Given Bush's record, it may seem like 28% is rather high, but that assumes you follow the news as closely as we might. I have a few friends that have never heard of Gonzales, never heard of the torture, and think we're winning in Iraq. Whatever 'winning' means these days. What can you do?
The crumbling base knows that winning is just the opposite of what the Democrats want to do in Iraq. That's all they got.
Probably the same crowd that thought Bin Laden and Hussein where bosom pals and that Iraq was responsible for 9/11.
So, has anyone else considered the fact that maybe people were just confused about the topic when asked whether or not they liked bush?