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It’s official. President George W. Bush has united the American people, who have collectively declared him: Worst. President. Ever.

President Bush has set a record he’d presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The previous record of 67% was reached by Harry Truman in January 1952, when the United States was enmeshed in the Korean War.

The title comes at the end of a long downhill slide from having the record highest approval rating in September, 2001. Bush earned that record by ignoring a daily presidential briefing dated 6 August 2001 titled, “Bin Laden determined to strike in US.” (Among other things, the memo pointed out, “…FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.”)

Besides the USA Today/Gallup poll, there was an ARG poll released today and a Rasmussen poll released Sunday that included presidential approval.

The ARG poll gave Bush 22% approval and 72% disapproval. This isn’t the worst Bush has done in the ARG poll…in February, his approval was a mere 19% and his disapproval was an astounding 77%. But, then, ARG presidential approvals polls seem to be biased against Bush, and ARG, in general, has something of a reputation for quirky (i.e. highly variable) results.

The Rasmussen approval poll (which is now taken weekly instead of daily) has Bush’s approval at 34% and disapproval at 64%. The Rasmussen presidential approval polls have always been biased in favor of Bush relative to other major pollsters (but consistently and reliably so). We can compare Sunday’s results with past performance in the Rasmussen poll. When the April polls are averaged at the end of the month, this is likely to be Bush’s worst performance to date–easily beating the 36% approval and 61% disapproval from last May. Rasmussen points out:

Sometimes it is difficult to keep the ratings in perspective. In February 2005, at the beginning of the President’s second term, the number who Strongly Approved was roughly equal to the number who Strongly Disapproved. Now, three years later, just 13% Strongly Approve while more than three times as many—45%–Strongly Disapprove.

Aggregates of multiple polls (e.g. Prof. PollKatz or Pollster.com) also show Bush at the lowest point of his presidency.

So…we have a lame duck Worst. President. Ever. But consider this: at this point in the second term, Ronald Reagan was hovering around 50% approval and Bill Clinton’s approval was in the low 60%. It isn’t just a “lame duck” effect.

Does Bush’s pathetic approval/disapproval matter? From Rasmussen:

In March, as the President’s Approval Rating slipped, the number of Americans who consider themselves to be Democrats remained near the highest levels ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports.

Yeah…I guess it does a little. Besides needlessly sending our soldiers to their death and running up enormous debt for an illegal war that was fraudulently foisted upon the American people, besides the erosion of our civil liberties, the invasion of our privacy, and the approval of torture contrary to our treaties, in addition to causing massive (and, quite possibly, permanent) damage to our reputation abroad, it looks like the Bush administration has also made it downright distasteful (or, perhaps, embarrassing) to be a Republican.

So how is founder Denis Hayes choosing to celebrate this 38th Earth Day? By endorsing Darcy Burner:

When it comes to the environment, Darcy gets it! But more than that, she gets what needs to be done, and knows how to get there. She will represent more than merely a vote we can count on and a voice on these issues that are important to each of us – she will take on the tough political battles we need to fight if we are to bring our planet back into balance. She is a true environmentalist.

Read the whole thing…

Speaking before a crowd of about a hundred Democrats at a fundraiser yesterday, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (WA-06) reportedly said that if Hillary Clinton wins “big” in today’s Pennsylvania primary, he believes the nominating contest will go all the way to the convention, but… if she does not win big — and given the current polling he has no expectation that she will — there would be no way the math could work for her, and he’d flip his endorsement to Barack Obama in order to help end the contest sooner rather than later.

Dicks did not provide details, but he left the impression with attendees that he has discussed this scenario with several of his fellow Congressional superdelegates, and that he is alone in neither his analysis nor his intentions.

So think of Dicks as the canary in the coal mine of the Clinton campaign; if he flips, other superdelegates will likely flip with him. And that would signal the end of Clinton’s presidential ambitions.

I refuse to take sides in the Senate primary in Oregon, but I just love Steve Novick’s ads. Especially this, and this. (I don’t know if they work, but they sure work for me.)

For those of you who read HA, maybe comment from time to time, this blogging thing may look simple. Write up a few posts, and then go on with your day. Certainly, some of us (er, me) just post somewhat rarely, and expect to stay at our day jobs.

Goldy expects to actually make a living from writing here, and as a fan of the blog who wants to see the quality stay high, I certainly appreciate that. As a friend of Goldy’s, I think it’s nuts: Someone with his skills in technology and knowledge in politics should by rights make a lot more money than he does.

But Goldy keeps on chugging here. For a lot less than a decent political operative makes, he’s helped more than just about anyone locally outside of the Burner campaign push the Responsible Plan into the public discourse. He has stood up to the Chinese importers of tainted pet food, David Irons, and the shameless Republican hacks pushing their lies after the 2004 election. He’s done it all with well researched, informative, and most importantly, fun posts.

Writing a compelling blog, even one with modest readership compared to many of the large national blogs, requires a lot of work. Even for Goldy, who has one of the most tolerant comment policies, there is a good deal of moderation. The new look that you see is the result of a lot of late night coding. The research that goes into his posts takes a lot of time.

So, please, Goldy only has one fundraiser per year. If you care about a quality alternative to the mainstream local media (or just if you enjoy his critiques) give some scratch. If you care about the stories he’s helped push, please give a bit. If you’ve enjoyed discussions in the comment threads (and surely someone has) consider giving a few bucks.

Also, for the long term, advertising may be a better way to go, especially if you’ve got a company or a cause you’d like to promote.

The most striking aspect of Dino Rossi’s transportation “plan” (you know, other than its complete and utter bullshittiness), is its almost total focus on road-building at the expense of expanded transit options. In fact the only nod toward transit in the entire plan is Rossi’s proposal to divert Sound Transit money toward building additional miles of HOV lanes on 405 and elsewhere on the Eastside.

But even that’s a total crock of shit, for even if Rossi could get around the thorny constitutional constraints that gives a governor zero control over local tax dollars (and he can’t), at the same time he’s proposing building more HOV lanes, he’s also proposing opening these lanes up to single occupancy traffic throughout most of day, which in a region fast approaching 24-hour rush hour makes the HOV designation virtually meaningless.

So in essence, Rossi proposes taking money Sound Transit has socked away for building light rail to Bellevue, and spending it instead on building more general purpose freeway lanes — he just calls them “HOV” lanes and hopes voters and reporters won’t notice. Well, we did.

A heartfelt thanks to the 74 readers who have donated $4,335 to our second annual HA Pledge Week. But while that already surpasses last year’s $4,044 total we’re still far short of our 150 donor/$6,000 goal, six days into the drive.

If I’m at all disappointed it is with the total number of donations, still less than half this year’s target and 32 shy of last year’s total of 106 contributions. It is only through the extraordinary generosity of the donors thus far — averaging almost $59 per contribution — that Pledge Week hasn’t proven to be a bust. I suppose I shouldn’t be picky, but I had hoped for a broader base of readers to show their support.

But there’s still time. Last year a flood of $5, $10 and $20 donations helped put us over the top, and I’m hoping you ride to the rescue this year as well. Please show your support for local progressive media and help me take HA to the next level. Please give today.

From the TNT’s Political Buzz:

It seems Sheriff Dave has changed his Web site, which for months touted a rating showing him being the second most effective House member from Washington state during his first term. But according to the Democrats, sometime earlier this month that reference was dropped from his Web site. Reichert is now listed by congress.org as the least effective Washington state member and 401st out of the 439 House members.

No doubt House Republican leaders had high hopes for the silver haired Sheriff when he first came into Congress, gifting him plum committee assignments that bumped up his rookie year ratings. But in the three years hence he’s proven the biggest local bust since Brian Bosworth, trailing fellow WA Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers by a wide margin, along with 32 (out of 40) other members of his class.

The TNT points out that “the party in control sets the agenda, which affects the ratings,” and that’s good perspective, but so is the fact that when you compare apples to apples, Reichert now ranks only 171st out of 200 fellow House Republicans. Of course, that’s still better than 29 other GOP House members, some of whom aren’t even retired, indicted, behind bars or dead.

Why Reichert would choose to highlight his downward spiral, I don’t know. I suppose that explains the sudden web site edit.

Talk about domestic terrorism, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals want to develop test tube meat:

[PETA] said it would announce plans Monday for a $1 million prize to the “first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.”

The idea of getting the next Chicken McNugget out of a test tube is not new. For several years, scientists have worked to develop technologies to grow tissue cultures that could be consumed like meat without the expense of land or feed and the disease potential of real meat. An international symposium on the topic was held this month in Norway. The tissue, once grown, could be shaped and given texture with the kinds of additives and structural agents that are now used to give products such as soy burgers a more meaty texture.

Huh.  I’ve always assumed that’s exactly how they already make Chicken McNuggets.

Seven months ago, the last time my 92-year-old grandmother had dinner at my house before she died, I organized all of the women in my family for a photo of “Four generations of women for Hillary Clinton.” In the photo we included the baby tee shirt that my now 15-year-old had worn when “we” volunteered for Bill Clinton’s first presidential run and our prized autographed photo of my infant daughter being held by President Clinton. Hillary was to be our first woman president, and my now adolescent daughters and I agreed with their cousins and aunts and grandmothers and great-grandmother that it was finally time.

Over the last few weeks in Pennsylvania my ambivalence about who I would vote for in the primary has been met by uniform surprise, “but you…. I thought you…aren’t you.” Yes, I am an upper middle class educated professional woman registered Democrat. My first political memory is going door to door for George McGovern with my mother. I have proudly self-identified as a feminist since age 12, and I have never wavered in my support for both Clintons. But, despite her intelligence and her eloquence, Hillary isn’t the candidate I wanted her to be, and if she can’t convince me, how can she possibly win a general election.

I don’t actually fault Hillary, because as all successful feminists of her generation who struggled to break the glass ceiling—and isn’t this the ultimate glass ceiling—she has absolutely mastered the rules of a man’s world. Unfortunately, the game is changing, and the old rules are no longer good enough. I wanted the first woman president to be better than the men who preceded her and not simply to be better at their politics. I wanted Hillary to rise above the fray, to inspire and to unite, and to humanize, and to finally be the one to change both how we campaigned and how we governed. While I owe Hillary a great debt for paving the way for the next generation of women politicians, I believe that our first woman president will not come from her generation. The price she and her peers had to pay for playing by the rules, as they existed, was too high. The first generation feminists didn’t realize that woman shouldn’t simply strive to succeed at the old rules, but they needed to change the rules themselves.

Barack Obama’s speech on race in Philadelphia was probably my turning point. Although young and relatively inexperienced, Senator Obama is behaving like the elder statesman that I wanted Hillary to be. He strives to unite, to inspire and shockingly for a politician, he tells the complicated truth about issues like race, that other politicians avoid. I am immensely grateful to the Clintons for their years of service for the causes I believe in, and I hope that Senator Clinton and former President Clinton continue to use their stage to change the world. I wish the Clintons well and like many of their friends and allies I hope they don’t think I am betraying them, but I am voting for Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary.

— Goldy’s Sister

In Seattle, we’re home to the Discovery Institute, a conservative think thank dedicated to the task of changing the definition of science. They’re hyping the new Ben Stein anti-Darwin film, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”. The film is getting awful reviews.

While I oppose the sneaky introduction of creationism into the classroom, I have not seen an energetic and accessible response by the science community.

Until now.

Ken Miller basically rips Intelligent Design apart in a 2 hour long exposé of the claims of intelligent design and the tactics that creationists employ to get it shoehorned into the American school system.

Miller is funny, urbane, and respectful. He’s the author of science textbooks, and testifies in front of school boards across the country. At every one of these engagements, he always manages to eat the lunch of the Discovery Institute guys. The video is nearly two hours long, so allow it time to load. It’s worth it.
[Read more…]

Less than two days left in our annual pledge week and we’ve raised a respectable amount of money, though we’re still far short of our 150 donor/$6,000 target. A huge thanks to the 67 of you who have donated $3,690 thus far.

The righty trolls in the comment threads like to accuse me of being a deadbeat, derisively pointing to this fund drive as proof positive. But what I really am is an entrepreneur, if with an admittedly shaky business plan: asking you to choose to help pay for a service you obviously find valuable. Prove me right, and them wrong; please give today.

Artist rendering of construction of Rossi’s waterfront tunnel

There has been much debate amongst political insiders this week over whether Dino Rossi’s transportation “plan” was a smart political move. Oh, everybody agrees it is dumb policy — a head-up-its-ass, roads-only acceleration of a WSDOT wish list funded by pixie dust and prevarication — but there are some on both sides of the aisle who argue that local voters are indeed gullible enough to believe that enunciating such a plan somehow reflects on Rossi’s ability to achieve it. Me… I’m not so sure.

See, the problem with transportation planning in the Puget Sound region and Washington state, is that we’re just too goddamn, small “d” democratic to give any public official the moral or legal authority to get things done. Robert Moses himself could descend from Mt. Sinai with a comprehensive transportation plan etched in stone by the hand of God, and it would quickly crumble to dust amidst political squabbling, obstructionist ballot measures, picketing polar bears, and our state taxpayers’ profound unwillingness to actually pay for the infrastructure and services we want. Neither our statutory framework nor our political ethos easily accommodates the kind of forceful leadership required to enact, you know… plans.

Hence, a skeptical response from our state’s opinion makers might have been expected even had Rossi’s numbers actually added up. Which they don’t. Prompting even the Seattle Times to politely trash Rossi’s proposal in a Sunday editorial that bandies about the words “mushy,” “baffling,” “troublesome,” and “misleading,” while charging that the candidate “cha-cha’s around the question of what other things the state would do without.”

It is hard to imagine the political advantage to be gained from a “plan” on which even the rhetorical cosmeticians at the Blethen Family Newsletter can’t manage to slather a little political lipstick. And how could they while describing three of Rossi’s major proposals as a “financial sinkhole,” “a waste of money” and, well… a political fantasy?

He relies on tolls less than Gregoire but only because he reaches into a currently untappable fund, Sound Transit’s pot of gold. For Rossi to accomplish his goals, he would need a Republican Legislature.

Rossi wouldn’t just need a Republican legislature to divert Sound Transit’s Eastside light rail dollars to roads, he’d need the cooperation of the Sound Transit board, plus a vote of the people. And he’s not likely to get any of those of three, anymore than he’ll get Seattle voters to approve a waterfront tunnel or residents of the Montlake neighborhood to acquiesce to bulldozing an eight-lane 520 through the Arboretum.

I suppose, technically, it’s still a “plan” — it’s just a plan for failure. The question editorialists should be asking of Rossi is, does he really not understand how politically unrealistic his proposals are… or does he just not care?