(Incoherent chart taken from Yahoo News/Los Angeles Times)
Category: Grave
(Though it may be a bit hard to tell, that is indeed Tony Blair at the G8 summit.)
For those of you who don’t regularly visit George W. Bush’s campaign website and official weblog and Meet-Up site, you may not have known that for the past several days, the site’s front page has been overtaken by the gargantuan, one-thousand-pixels wide layout sampled above. (Constructive note to the G.O.P. web team: It’s doubtful that the majority of Republican Middle American visitors to your website have screen resolutions greater than 800×600. Just a tip for any future pandering ideas you may have.)
In case you’d forgotten, President Bush has claimed over and over again to have modeled his presidency on Reagan’s, and many articles made available this week have reified this point nicely, if not a bit sardonically. You know, tax cuts, deficit spending, reduction of benefits and social services, increased arms spending, etc. Oh, and patriotism. That last thing comes in handy when you consider the 24/7 orgy of Reagan-worship television viewers have been subjected to since news of his death on Saturday. Notably, many commentators have gone so far as to iterate the idea that Ronald Reagan was the most beloved and popular president of modern times.
In that vein, then, here’s some additional information on The Deity That Was Reagan:
“As measured by Gallup polls, Reagan on average had a 53 … Reagan’s highest job approval rating was 65 percent…His average approval rating was 48 percent in 1987 and 53 percent in 1988, though, like most presidents, he got a final lift in his last month of office, getting a 63 percent approval rating in December 1988.”
Here, as well, is some additional information on The Shame That Was Clinton:
“The president leaves office with 61% of the public approving of the way he is handling the job, combined with a surprisingly lofty 64% favorability rating (up from 48% in May 2000)…”
On that note, John Kerry’s official campaign website is expected to soon post the following splashpage:
Categories
You’re Not Following Orders, Soldier!
In today’s Los Angeles Times: “Prison Interrogators’ Gloves Came Off Before Abu Ghraib”
“I said, take the gloves off, soldier!”
(Original photo of Iraqi children part of this Reuters article.)
Members of the public solemnly view their fallen leader in Simi Valley, CA, June 8, 2004.
Members of the public solemnly view their fallen leader in Red Square, Moscow, undated.
(Thanks to Choire.)
From “Bush Finds Lawyer to Use if Called in Leak Case”, the New York Times, June 3, 2004:
President Bush has met with a private lawyer whom he intends to hire to represent him if he is questioned as part of a grand jury investigation into the public disclosure of a C.I.A. undercover officer’s identity, the White House said Wednesday.
[…]
Mr. Wilson and some Democrats have charged that the White House leaked Ms. Plame’s identity as a way of retaliating against Mr. Wilson.
From Vice Presidential candidate Dick Cheney’s address to the Republican National Convention, August 2, 2000:
“George W. Bush will repair what has been damaged. He is a man without pretense and without cynicism. A man of principle, a man of honor. On the first hour of the first day…he will restore decency and integrity to the oval office. He will show us that national leaders can be true to their word…and that they can get things done by reaching across the partisan aisle, and working with political opponents in good faith and common purpose.”
From Condoleeza Rice’s remarks to the Republican National Convention, August 1, 2000:
“George W. Bush will work with Congress so that America speaks with one voice. He has demonstrated in this campaign that he will never use foreign policy for narrow partisan purposes.”
President Bush on CIA director George Tenet, upon learning of his resignation, June 3, 2004:
“He’s been a strong and able leader at the agency, and I will miss him. I told him I’m sorry he’s leaving. He’s done a superb job on behalf of the American people.”
President Bush on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, upon learning that a number of people were calling for his firing, May 10, 2004:
“You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror. You are doing a superb job. You are a strong Secretary of Defense and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude.”