Founder of USA Today Speaks Tough to Bush and Those Who Support Him

This isn't the first time Al Neuharth, who started USA Today, has spoken up against the Bushies (who are in denial, he states) although it should be noted he seemed very Bush-friendly in the distant past. But Editor & Publisher brings us this which certainly won't get Al on the White House Christmas fruitcake list (or perhaps will, depending on how bad the fruitcake - and no, this isn't a sideways remark about Ken Mehlman's sexual orientation - is):

NEW YORK USA Today founder Al Neuharth, once known for his generally Republican views, appears to have seen enough of President Bush.

In his column today for USA Today, he once again hits the Iraq war (he is one of the few mainstream journalists to favor a quick withdrawal), then notes the presient's approval rating having plunged from 71% to 34% in the Gallup poll since 2003."How low can Bush's approval rating go? My hunch is it's at or near the bottom," he suggests. "That 34% represents mostly unshakeable far-right wingers. Like Bush, Vice President Cheney and company, they are in denial. As were the 24% in the polls who still approved of President Richard Nixon before he resigned in disgrace.

"What happened to the 37% who have switched from pro-Bush to anti-Bush? They finally realized they were suckered by Bush and his buddies back then about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction, his tie to terrorists and his threat to the USA."

Neuharth, a decorated war veteran, concludes: "President Abraham Lincoln was right when he said: 'You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.'"