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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (716601)	12/4/2005 10:40:38 AM
From: tonto	Respond to of 769670

Bush upswing numbers in polls unnerves democrats. A Fox News poll finds that President George Bush's "Victory Strategy" speech helped him gain some ground in his overall numbers — and suggests it brought back some wavering GOP and independent support: President George W. Bush's approval rating recovered a few points in the week's FOX News poll, though slightly more Americans still disapprove than approve of his job performance. On the issue of pre-Iraq war intelligence, roughly equal numbers of Americans think the president shared the best information available as think he intentionally misled the country. Today, 42 percent of Americans approve and 48 percent disapprove of the job President Bush is doing. Bush regained 6 percentage points from his standing earlier this month of 36 percent approval — the lowest approval of his presidency (November 8-9). Much of this week's improvement can be attributed to increases in approval among Republicans (+ 6 percentage points), men (+ 8 points) and independents (+10 points). "Some of the improvement may also be due to President Bush’s Wednesday speech on Iraq," comments Opinion Dynamics Chairman John Gorman. "Interviews finished before the speech show a 40 percent approval rate, while those done after the speech show 43 percent approval. If any of this is due to the speech it may very well be temporary." Indeed...BUT if you go back and look at Bush's speeches, not every speech he has made has gotten him a bounce in the polls. So this can't be dismissed as something that happens on all the time when GWB has made a speech. On the other hand, there is a real question as to whether this is temporary bounce due to the speech or the beginning of a gradual upswing for Bush. An upswing would assume he's winning back Americans who have wavered on the war and that the news out of Iraq is good — which it hasn't been during the past 48 hours. But the poll can't be dismissed as meaningless, since it's the first poll in several weeks that has shown some kind of upward movement on his approval ratings. MORE: The long-standing polarization between the parties continues, as there are almost as many Republicans that approve of the job Bush is doing (78 percent), as there are Democrats that disapprove (80 percent). Among independents, 36 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove. Overall, the public is sharply divided on whether before going to war President Bush knowingly gave the wrong impression about Iraq's weapons capabilities: 46 percent think the president gave Americans the best prewar intelligence available and 44 percent think he intentionally misled the country about the presence of weapons of mass destruction. Still a danger mark. AND: Here again, there are predictable partisan differences: 79 percent of Republicans think Bush gave Americans the best available prewar intelligence, while 72 percent of Democrats think he misled the country. Independents split, as 45 percent think Bush misled Americans and 43 percent disagree. What does that tell you? It underscores the erosion in Bush's independent support and the overall polarization in the U.S. AND: In addition, some Americans think there are still weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A 42 percent plurality thinks Iraq had weapons before the war and moved or destroyed them, while 28 percent think there were no WMD at all. Almost one in five (19 percent) think there are still WMD in Iraq. The current results are almost unchanged from opinions about a year and a half ago. At that time, 44 percent said the weapons were moved or destroyed, 28 percent said Iraq did not have any such weapons and 22 percent thought the weapons were still there... The bottom line: a poll shows some movement up for Bush. It's a new twist on the story which for weeks has been Bush's polls going down. The real test: what other polls will find over the next few weeks...and the impact of events and news stories beyond the administration's control. Related Posts (on one page):

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (716601)	12/4/2005 10:43:41 AM
From: Thomas A Watson	Respond to of 769670

Considering how any informed person understands the economy, that is compelling proof how totally ignorant that specific sampled 55% are. And I have no doubt Kenneth E. Phillipps is a member of the disapprove idiots set. LOL... the idea any person handles the economy is such idiot revealing idea. But Kenneth E. Phillipps should be afraid, because their is a skull and bones group of tens of thousands and they are all plotting to screw democrats in Washington State. And who do we know who is a democrats in Washington State. And the plural is not a grammar error. dems all or most vote more than once as recent elections have shown.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (716601)	12/4/2005 11:45:21 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Report Accuses EPA of Slanting Analysis Hill Researchers Say Agency Fixed Pollution Study to Favor Bush's 'Clear Skies' By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 3, 2005; A08 washingtonpost.com The Bush administration skewed its analysis of pending legislation on air pollution to favor its bill over two competing proposals, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service. The Environmental Protection Agency's Oct. 27 analysis of its plan -- along with those of Sens. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) -- exaggerated the costs and underestimated the benefits of imposing more stringent pollution curbs, the independent, nonpartisan congressional researchers wrote in a Nov. 23 report. The EPA issued its analysis -- which Carper had demanded this spring, threatening to hold up the nomination of EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson -- in part to revive its proposal, which is stalled in the Senate. The administration's "Clear Skies" legislation aims to achieve a 70 percent cut in emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide after 2018, while Carper's and Jeffords's bills demand steeper and faster cuts and would also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, which are linked to global warming. The Bush plan would also cut emissions of neurotoxic mercury by 70 percent, while Jeffords's bill reduces them by 90 percent. "Although it represents a step toward understanding the impacts of legislative options, EPA's analysis is not as useful as one could hope," the Research Service report said. "The result is an analysis that some will argue is no longer sufficiently up-to-date to contribute substantially to congressional debate." The congressional report, which was not commissioned by a lawmaker as is customary, said the EPA analysis boosted its own proposal by overestimating the cost of controlling mercury and playing down the economic benefits of reducing premature deaths and illnesses linked to air pollution. EPA estimated the administration's plan would cost coal-fired power plants as much as $6 billion annually, compared with up to $10 billion in Carper's measure and as much as $51 billion for Jeffords's. It calculated that Bush's proposal would produce $143 billion a year in health benefits while Carper's would generate $161 billion and Jeffords would yield $211 billion. Carper's measure would achieve most of its reductions by 2013, while Jeffords's bill would enact even more ambitious pollution cuts by 2010. EPA spokeswoman Eryn Witcher said the agency based its cost estimates on mercury controls by gathering comments from boilermaker workers, power companies and emission control companies, whereas the Research Service used a single study to reach its conclusions on mercury. "Clear Skies delivers dramatic health benefits across the nation without raising energy costs and does it with certainty and simplicity, instead of regulation and litigation," Witcher said. "Because of our commitment to see this become a reality, EPA went above and beyond to provide the most comprehensive legislative analysis of air ever prepared by the agency, so it does a real disservice to this discussion to have a report that largely ignores and misinterprets our analysis." But aides to Carper and Jeffords said they felt vindicated by the congressional study. "The CRS report backs up a lot of what we initially said about EPA's latest analysis, that it overstated the costs of controlling mercury and understated the overall health benefits of Senator Carper's legislation," said Carper spokesman Bill Ghent. "The report clearly states that there's no reason to settle for the president's Clear Skies plan because the legislation doesn't clean the air much better than current law." © 2005 The Washington Post Company

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (716601)	12/4/2005 2:39:28 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

kennyboy: markets killing you ??? Friday's high of 2273.61was actually a new 52-week high as well, so in terms of momentum, things look rather bullish. Lending itself to that argument is the sharp bounce we made on Thursday after closing right at the 10 day line on Wednesday. That wasn't unlike the bounce at the 10 day average we saw in mid-November either. So, the buyers are quick to step up to the plate when things start to sink.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (716601)	12/4/2005 2:41:28 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

kennyboymarketwhiner: Much has been written about the prospect for the year-end rally in equity markets. The so-called "Santa Claus rally" is already here. And it is fueled by declining energy prices that have helped to take the burden off of the consumer. That much is evident, judging from exceptionally strong retail spending for the first weekend of the holiday season. This year's $27.8 billion in sales at the malls over the Black Friday weekend was the second-strongest result since 1999. And the 22% increase in online spending and the 29% rise in Web site traffic are set to mark fresh records for Cyber Monday sales.