President Bush is having a tough summer, for reasons that are pretty much out of his control (continued terrorism in Iraq, gas prices), but Donald Lambro, citing left-leaning pollsters like John Zogby and Stanley Greenberg, says the President’s lagging poll numbers aren’t benefiting the Democrats:
Democrats hoped they would be scoring political points in this year’s election cycle as a result of increasing terrorist violence in Iraq and skyrocketing gasoline prices that have combined to send President Bush’s job-approval ratings plunging into the low 40s.
But things are not turning out as they hoped. The Democrats are beset by internal division over the lack of an agenda, carping from liberals who say party leaders are not aggressive enough in challenging Mr. Bush’s nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court, bitterness among abortion rights activists after criticism by Democratic leaders that forced them to pull a TV advertisement attacking Judge Roberts, and complaints from pollsters that they have no coherent message to take into the 2006 elections.
An ancient adage in politics holds that you can’t beat somebody with nobody. That saying applies to candidates, but it is equally true, applying the adage to ideas, that you can’t beat something with nothing.
PAUL adds: Liberal Washington Post columnist David Ignatius sees it the same way. “Name a tough problem,” says Ignatius, “and the Democrats are ducking the hard choices.” Ignatius also finds that “today’s Democrats have trouble expressing the most basic theme of American politics: ‘We, the people.’ Rather than a governing party with a clear ideology, they are a collection of interest groups.” Igantius’ comments on Joseph Biden, the Dems’ spokesperson on foreign policy, and on Howard Dean also make for amusing reading.
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