Sobering Statistics

I am mainly surrounded by Democrats who share my negative views of the Bush administration and the GOP. Everyday, when we read about the reprehensible and criminal performances of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the Pentagon, it is easy for me to assume that the entire nation has faced up to the fact that a bunch of thugs are in power in the Republican Party. It’s easy for me to assume that not only are Democrats and Independents ashamed of the Bush administration, but that the Republican Party is ashamed as well. And yet, this morning the New York Times reports that although support for Bush has dropped, it has far from tanked. Andrew Kohut, executive director of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, a nonpartisan research group says Bush support may be shaky but it definitely has not completely eroded. Kohut said, “Among moderate and liberal Republicans, 52 percent currently approve of Mr. Bush’s job performance, down from 63 percent in April” and, ”among conservatives, his job approval stood at 74 percent this month, down from 86 percent in April.” Isn’t that amazing! How could anyone in his right mind approve of Bush’s job performance? Nevertheless, the statistics are staring us in the face. Seventy-four percent of conservative Republicans approve of George W. Bush’s job performance. Seventy-four percent of conservative Republicans and 52% of liberal Republicans approve of the lies told by the Bush administration. They approve of torture, invading weak nations, empowering illegal immigrants, giving tax breaks to the rich, cutting aid across the board to the poor and elderly, selling America to foreign investors who are enemies of the US, surveilling all US citizens, curtailing freedom of speech, allowing Christian zealots to influence Republican policies, empowering far-right religious militias (read, mercenaries), allowing the President and Vice President to commit crimes without prosecution and finally, 74% of conservative Republicans and 52% of liberal Republicans approve of continuing to kill American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan so that rich Republican businessmen and politicians can profit from these wars and continue to control Middle East oil. Am I shocked? Well, yeah, I am. I had thought the Republican Party had turned a corner to become a little more ethical, and a little less greedy, avaricious and corrupt. I was wrong.