Lots of you have been skeptical of my prediction that President Bush has only a 60% chance of finishing his second term.
Recently, the Rasmussen Poll, one of the more accurate ones out there, did a telephone poll showing that 39% of the respondants favored impeaching the President.49% disagree while 12% are `not sure'.
This is a significant increase over the last time Rasmussen Reports did this, a year and a half ago in December 2005. The numbers then were 32% in favor, 58% against and 10% undecided.
58% of Democrats now think that President Bush should be tossed out of office, with 20% of those thinking he ought to be hung and 10% wanting to tickle his feet while he swings.
(ok, the numbers on him being hung and the tickling thing were bogus - ff)
16% of Republicans support the president's impeachment.
Among people who are independents, 40% want the president impeached, up from 34%.
Now, admittedly, this was a telephone poll with only one thousand responses, but the breakdown is interesting......
Right now, the president's average approval rating from all polls is a miserable 30.5%, or as Rasmussen puts it:
"During the month of June, the President’s Job Approval fell to the lowest level yet measured by Rasmussen Reports. For the full month, only 35% of Americans said they even Somewhat Approve of the President’s performance. That figure was down from 36% in May and 39% in April. Just 69% of Republicans voice their support. Overall, only 14% of Americans Strongly Approve of his performance."
And it's not just Rasmussen. An American Research Group poll released this week showed that among all U.S. adults, 45% support the House initiating impeachment proceedings against Bush (the percentage was 54% in relation to Cheney impeachment).
ARG is generally fairly Left leaning, but I think it's obvious that the media and the Democrat control of Congress are fueling a lot of speculation...and ginning up the base.
The Democrats in Congress are using almost all of their time and energy in Washington on two things, aside from the usual perks n' pork: one, sabotaging General Petraeus' efforts in Iraq without trying to be too overtly defeatist and appearing to not `support the troops' and two, investigations and suppoenas aimed at just about anything the Bush Administration has ever done. If Dubyah borrowed five bucks from a senate page and forgot to return it, rest assured that there's a congressional panel investigating it. And with that kind of focus, they will likely find something. Just looking at some of the corruption involved in the reconstruction of Iraq and the lackadaisical way the Bush administration investigated it could be a very juicy target just by itself.
Do the Democrats have the votes to impeach President Bush or Vice President Cheney?
Probably not, based on what we know at this time. But new information,along with the president's declining popularity could very much change the facts on the ground.I personally think that we are going to see non-stop war between the White House and Congress for the rest of Bush's term in office.
The congressional Democrats have nothing to lose by bringing articles of impeachment, and as a matter of fact, Dennis Kucinich and 12 other congressmen have already brought articles before the House on Cheney. Impeachment proceedings satisfies their lust for revenge and their personal hatred of Bush and Cheney, excites a significant part of their Angry Left constituency and energizes the base, even if it goes nowhere. And of course,if they're successful, they have a President Pelosi to do the lead-in to the 2008 elections.
The damage this might do to our war effort and the bitterness and disunity it would promote in the country, successful or not, is of course seconday to these people.
To their way of thinking, they have nothing to lose by taking a shot at impeaching the president, and I fully expect them to do so.
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