Strait of Hormuz Spinning 101

For those who want a roundup of how BADLY the Bushies tried to spin the story of two little speedboats somehow presenting a MASSIVE THREAT to two big ass U.S. warships (who perhaps do NOT themselves belong in the fucking Strait of Hormuz in the first place) in Bush's latest attempt to launch war with Iran, see Cernig's (excellent) Newshoggers.

Myself? I laughed at the incident once I saw the video (wow, was that dumb) but laughed less when CNN's poll yesterday said that 44% of Americans agreed that Bush is right about Iran being "such a threat". However, CNN's damned poll is also REALLY easy to vote multiple times in, so it could be Karl Rove with an hour on his pudgy, murderous hands changing the vote (not exactly the first time he's done that, is it?).

Republicans, Mental Health, And Delusions

As Ricky Shambles posts at my "other" home at All Things Democrat, GOPeeuponers are into delusion: they think their mental health is better than anyone else's.

Ricky puts it well: ignorance MUST be bliss.

More Than 60% Of Americans Say We Should Never Have Gone Into Iraq; 63% Wants Troop Withdrawal Before 2008

Republicans and even some Democrats insist they know what American citizens - and the critical demographic subset of America called Norman Rockwell-painted Ma and Pa U.S. voter - most want from their elected officials and others who run Washington. Yet opinion polls demonstrate the lawmakers and especially the White House (currently run into the ground by Edgar BergenKarl Rove and his "front man", Charlie McCarthy George W. Bush) seem to have no genuine clue re: "the will of the people." Check this out:

[...] there’s a strange paradox here. The decibel level of the fin-de-Bush rage is a bit of a red herring. In truth, there is some consensus among Americans about the issues that are dividing both parties. The same May poll that found the country so wildly off-track showed agreement on much else. Sixty-one percent believe that we should have stayed out of Iraq, and 63 percent believe we should withdraw by 2008. Majorities above 60 percent also buy broad provisions of the immigration bill — including the 66 percent of Republicans (versus 72 percent of Democrats) who support its creation of a guest-worker program.

What these figures suggest is that change is on its way, no matter how gridlocked Washington may look now. However much the G.O.P. base hollers, America is not going to round up and deport 12 million illegal immigrants, or build a multibillion-dollar fence on the Mexican border — despite Lou Dobbs’s hoax blaming immigrants for a nonexistent rise in leprosy. A new president unburdened by a disastrous war may well fashion the immigration compromise that is likely to elude Mr. Bush.

In New York City, A Race of Mayors For President Brings Surprises

While the Washington Times reports that current New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, will run as a third-party 2008 presidential race candidate, a poll in New York shows that in a race between Bloomberg and former NYC mayor, Rudy Giuliani, Bloomberg wins.

Majority of Americans Dislike Bush's Veto Of Iraq Funding Bill With Timeline Attached

OK, I fully and completely understand why 54% of Americans dislike Bush's presidential veto. What I don't get is that more than 40% of Americans APPROVE of Bush's veto.

A majority of the U.S. public disapproves of President Bush's decision to veto a war spending bill that called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq in 2008, according to a CNN poll released Tuesday.

The poll found that 54 percent of Americans opposed Bush's May 1 veto, while 44 percent backed the president's decision to kill the $124 billion bill.Now that the veto has been cast, 57 percent of Americans said they want Congress to send another spending bill with a timetable for withdrawal back to the White House, the poll found -- but 61 percent would support a new bill that dropped the timetables in favor of benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet to maintain American support. (Full results [PDF])

While it found that more Americans believe Congress, rather than the president, should be responsible for setting policy in Iraq, the survey may give the Democratic leadership some pause. The percentage of people saying Democratic control of Congress is good for the country dropped from 59 percent in a March poll to 51 percent now.

Invasion of the Snotty Bastards

Actually, all humor aside, I highly recommend this piece by Rozius (of Rozius Unbound fame and infamy) available at All Things Democrat. It asks the very serious question: how the hell is it that there remains about a 30% core of Americans in just about every damned poll who still support George W. Bush through every horrific thing he has done (and failed to do) as president-in-cheat.

This 30% figure has stayed almost a constant for the last two-plus years when so very much more awful has happened not just on Bush's watch but directly because of what he does.

(And brownie points to anyone who knows what American "tragedy" is referenced in the book/movie, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.")