Andrew Greeley (courtesy of Atrios) on Bush's alleged popularity:

Yet last week's issue of Time--which celebrates the Bush-Cheney team like it is Michael and Gabriel--provides data that runs against the notion that Americans are enthusiastic supporters of the administration. The president's approval rating has dropped to 55 percent. The country is split between those who say they trust the president (50 percent) and those who don't (48 percent). No one seems to have noticed that the 60 percent approval rating the media have celebrated all these months is about the same as President Bill Clinton's at the time of the Lewinsky scandal.

Actually, Clinton's approval ratings were, in some cases, higher then 60 percent at the time he was impeached. The media likes to talk about how amazing it is that Bush has sustained such popular support over such a long time. This is absurd. Bush's approval ratings have been dropping steadily over the last year and a half and have now reached the level they were at on 9/10/2001. Yet, over an equivalent period of time, Clinton maintained a steady level of popular support while his presidency was under attack from all fronts. Bush can't even maintain a popular support level commenserate with Clinton's at a time when America is under attack. What does that say about his leadership abilities?