Thursday, July 17, 2003

This is getting pretty meta, but lookat what I found on Daily Kos
From the comment board:
CNN this instant.
A five-year-old little blond army boy: 'We wanted my daddy to be home for my birthday, but the President changed his mind again. He keeps on doing that.'

We were waiting for the tipping point. We were saying the higher Bush rose, the harder he would fall. Well, the dam has burst. Ari got out just in time, 'cause things are going to get ugly for Bush."
I actually saw this report, and the interview with the mother that preceded it where she complained about "these people lying". I agree with Kos, of course, but I was more amazed that this story got on CNN in the first place. This is more than just the media getting their claws into a juicy story with the Yellowcake scandal (kids are gonna be learning about that term in school, I guarantee you that)... it seems to reflect a turning point in how the media and the populace think of the Bush administration.

It's not a simple case of "things getting ugly", at least in terms of being caught in a bad situation. We seem to be witnessing a fundamental shift in attitudes here, one that we never saw with Clinton, Bush, or Reagan. (Bush I may be similar, but he got sunk on the economy and by a perception that national security wasn't important... there wasn't this sort of wholesale shift of perceptions) Heck, even Nixon's downfall wasn't like this. I can't even think of a simple example of this kind of shift in American history... which makes sense, because I can't think of an administration that so begged for it as much as the Bush administration.

Atrios is right in one respect... there isn't going to be an impeachment. The Republicans, however, may wish to seriously rethink not having a primary. The "bogging down" during the war was something that Bush managed to pull his way out of (although it was the first hint of this shift). I don't think he's easily going to pull his way out of this. Another war wouldn't work, the economy isn't going to be strong enough, and spin doesn't work when you've got nothing to build it on.

It's ironic. Iraq was supposed to rocket Bush to victory. Instead, it may end up more akin to cement shoes. Hope he brought his wetsuit.

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