Category: Politics

The latest poll from ABC News and the Washington Post has the President with a substantial lead:

According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, registered voters by a 27-point margin now say Bush has taken a clearer stand than Kerry on the issues, by 27 points call Bush the stronger leader and by 19 points say he would make the country safer. Bush also has a 22-point advantage in trust to handle terrorism, a 16-point lead on Iraq and perhaps a slight edge even on the lukewarm economy.

These and other ratings have either reversed or eroded Kerry’s position. After the Democratic convention Kerry had a six-point lead as more honest; now it’s Bush +13. Kerry had a 13-point lead on a “vision for the future”; now it’s Bush +9. Kerry had a 14-point lead on understanding people’s problems; now they’re essentially even (Bush +1).

Moving these underlying views has enabled Bush to break out of the virtual dead heat that’s defined the contest: Among likely voters in this ABC News/Washington Post survey, Bush has 52 percent support, Kerry 43 percent, Ralph Nader 2 percent. It’s Bush’s first lead beyond the margin of sampling error in any ABC/Post poll since Kerry seized his party’s nomination in March. The race is 50-44-2 percent among all registered voters.

Poor Democrats.

With the Kerry Campaign in meltdown, Democratic partisans are in collective state of panic, but true to their billing as the Party of Diversity they show it in different ways:

You’ve got your pure die-hards who insist that there’s no problem with Kerry’s campaign, and the polls that say there is are full of hooey. This is the denial wing.

And then you’ve got your magical thinking Dems who admit their boy is looking pretty ragged, but some magical event in the next few days is going to fix it all, such as the revelations that Bush missed a meeting or two in Alabama 35 years ago, or Kitty Kelley’s wild claims about pedophile space alien orgies in the White House 15 years ago, or something to do with pet goats.

And then you’re got your problem solvers who are all a twitter with advice for young Mr. Kerry-McGovern on how he can fix things because there’s plenty of time and stuff. One piece of advice says that he needs to quit talking about medical insurance and start putting some serious emphasis on the war, while the other, coming from Mr. Clinton, says forget about the war and start talking about education and recycling and stuff. While these advisers are all pretty much on the same page regarding Vietnam, telling Mr. K-McG to shut up about it already, the discord in their strategies couldn’t be more dramatic.

Which leads us to the conclusion that Kerry’s campaign is in such serious trouble that nobody knows how to fix it, and the prominent Democrats who sat out this election cycle such as Sen. Hillary knew what they were doing.

Jill Stewart says California’s latest education crisis is a plan by teachers’ union stooge Jackie Goldberg to dumb down math education even further:

Goldberg and the unions are so emboldened they are fighting plans to dramatically improve math skills of California kids.

California students rarely graduate with a grasp of advanced math, such as calculus. Yet calculus is now successfully taught to virtually every resident of rising poor countries, including Bulgaria, Poland and much of Asia. Trained mathematicians, like globally respected Stanford professors Jim Milgram and H.-H. Wu, say that’s because U.S. teachers receive useless, erroneous math training. Then teachers hobble the kids. Asked by state officials how California could correct course, Milgram and Wu proposed expunging erroneous math and teaching kids core principals.

The catch? Certified teachers will have to learn true math — a rarity.

Stewart says Arnie needs to wake up to what’s going on, which is not completely impossible but which does require a realistic assessment of Goldberg’s evil nature.

The Newsweek poll taken after the convention echoes Time’s numbers: an eleven point lead for the President in a three-way race. Here’s why:

In comparing the two presidential candidates, more registered voters think President Bush has strong leadership qualities than Kerry (65% vs. 47%), is more honest and ethical (62% vs. 47%), says what he believes and not just what people want to hear (66% vs. 42%), would trust him to make the right decisions during an international crisis (57% vs. 44%), shares their values (54% vs. 42%), and is personally likeable (67% vs. 59%). In addition, more registered voters think President Bush would do a better job than Sen. Kerry on various issues: terrorism and homeland security (60% vs. 32%), the situation in Iraq (55% vs. 37%), foreign policy (54% vs. 38%), taxes (52% vs. 38%), economy (49% vs. 43%), education (48% vs. 42%), and gay marriage (44% vs. 36%). More people say Sen. Kerry would do a better job than President Bush on healthcare, including Medicare (45% vs. 43%) and the environment (50% vs. 36%).

People just don’t trust John Kerry, and “I’m not Bush” isn’t enough for most of us.

Link via PoliPundit.

Bush Opens Double-Digit Lead according to Time.

Martin Devin says a Luntz focus group shows the President’s speech going over well in Ohio, and here’s why:

The more I think about it, the more I think that it was Bush’s authenticity that was so powerful. When he said that the people have gotten to know him, and they know where he stands even when they disagree with him. Powerful stuff.

You can’t fake authenticity.

Our strategy is succeeding. Four years ago, Afghanistan was the home base of al-Qaida, Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist groups, Saudi Arabia was fertile ground for terrorist fundraising, Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, Iraq was a gathering threat, and al-Qaida was largely unchallenged as it planned attacks. Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders, Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests, Libya is dismantling its weapons programs, the army of a free Iraq is fighting for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al-Qaida’s key members and associates have been detained or killed. We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer. George W. Bush Convention Acceptance Speech, September 2nd, 2004