Newsweek Poll: 57% Say Bush Spying Has Gone too Far
13 May 2006 9:38 am by Taylor Marsh
 |
| In his shadow. |
Yesterday on CNN, they did something I've been waiting for for a long time:
compared the presidencies of Bill Clinton to George W. Bush. The outcome wasn't even close,
not even on national security. The Washington Post's push poll, which
everyone cited yesterday, happened so fast that we all knew the numbers weren't set. But you never let a push poll sit for a second without a rebuttal. A new poll is out and Americans aren't nearly as comfortable
with Bush and Michael Hayden's illegal NSA spying program as the Washington
Post first claimed. In fact, if you combine the Clinton v. Bush records with the new poll showing Americans' unease with Bush's illegal spying, it paints an even bleaker picture for Bush than we had before.
President Bush tried to reassure the public this week that its privacy is
“fiercely protected,” and that “we’re not mining or
trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans.” Nonetheless,
Americans think the White House has overstepped its bounds: 57 percent
said that in light of the NSA data-mining news and other executive actions,
the Bush-Cheney Administration has “gone too far in expanding presidential
power.” That compares to 38 percent who think the Administration’s
actions are appropriate.There’s more bad news for the White House in the NEWSWEEK poll: President
Bush’s approval rating has dropped to the lowest in his presidency.
At 35 percent, his rating is one point below the 36 percent he received in
Newsweek’s polls in March and November, 2005.Iraq continues to be the biggest drain on the president’s popularity:
86 percent of Americans say the Iraq situation, coupled with new information
about the decision to go to war, have negatively influenced their view of
the president. Asked about Bush’s performance on a variety of issues,
from the economy to taxes, respondents gave the president some of the worst
marks of his tenure, and in no instance did approval reach more than 50 percent.
All this illegal spying by Bush comes on top of a preemptive war that Clinton
never had to wage. The combination is lethal for our president, making the vast
majority of Americans appreciate Bill Clinton, not to mention put his sexual
indiscretion in perspective. I've said this before, but if Senate Democrats
had followed Bill Cinton's Iraq plan we wouldn't have gotten in this mess. Containment was working, with regime change the goal, but without preemptive war. Likewise,
if George W. Bush had kept terrorism czar Richard Clarke in his cabinet,
not to mention met with the man prior to the day before 9/11, we also might
not have gotten in so much trouble. In addition, a PDB screaming Bin Laden Determined
to Attack in U.S. would likely have caused Bill Clinton pause. George W. Bush
was on vacation when he got it and stayed on vacation after he read it. Clinton's
people also warned the Bush administration that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda
were the biggest threats we faced. George W. Bush and his administration ignored
it, because everything Clinton was anathema to the new people now in charge. Bush knew best.
But years after the failures in Iraq, the death, wounded and maim total, Katrina, not to
mention the illegal spying and outing of a noc CIA agent, including the war
against the CIA Bush has waged, which has practically destroyed the CIA. People
are judging the presidents side by side, finding that President Bill Clinton
was a much better president because he put America's interests first, starting
with all people, not just the richest 1%. But Bush and Hayden's illegal
spying has made matters even worse.
It's part of the reason why Bill Clinton beats Bush by a mile in the latest
comparison poll. But nevertheless, the Post continues their campaign for all things Bush
with Richard
A. Falkenrath's op-ed this morning, which is nothing short of ludicrous
from the start. First, Falkenrath was Bush's deputy homeland security adviser
and deputy assistant to the president until just a couple of years ago. Do we
need to say anymore? But if that isn't good enough for you, let Kevin
Drum convince you further. Then I'll take you the rest of the way. The federal
government is not in the business of “anonymizing” anything, especially under George W. Bush. They're
in the business of identifying all of us, what we do, what we might do, what
we shouldn't do. It's yet another reason people have greater respect for President Bill Clinton. Falkenrath is a hack, just another in a line of Washington
Post Bush boys that use words to make a case that falls apart on its utterance.
Bring back Bill is the message, including when you're talking
about foreign affairs and national security, where Democrats now have a strong, clear
edge for very tangible reasons.
Respondents favored Clinton by greater than 2-to-1 margins when asked who
did a better job at handling the economy (63 percent Clinton, 26 percent Bush)
and solving the problems of ordinary Americans (62 percent Clinton, 25 percent
Bush). (Watch whether Americans are getting nostalgic for the Clinton era
— 1:57)On foreign affairs, the margin was 56 percent to 32 percent in Clinton's
favor; on taxes, it was 51 percent to 35 percent for Clinton; and
on handling natural disasters, it was 51 percent to 30 percent, also favoring
Clinton.Moreover, 59 percent said Bush has done more to divide the country, while
only 27 percent said Clinton had.When asked which man was more honest as president, poll respondents were
more evenly divided, with the numbers — 46 percent Clinton to 41 percent
Bush — falling within the poll's margin of error. The same was true
for a question on handling national security: 46 percent said Clinton performed
better; 42 percent picked Bush.
