Is it just me, or...

...is anybody else starting to kind of enjoy the fact that Bush is being taken down by...a woman? From SurveyUSA, via Political Wire...the speech Thursday did not win Bush any new ground. In fact...

"The number of Americans who now approve of the President's response to Hurricane Katrina is down: 40% today compared to 42% before he announced the Gulf Opportunity Zone" in a speech last week. "The number of Americans who disapprove of the President's response to Katrina is up: 56% today compared to 52% before the speech."

ETA: CNN has worse news for Bush.

His personal qualities hit fresh lows: Only 49 percent called him a strong and decisive leader, down from 54 percent in July and 51 percent in August. Just 42 percent said he cares about people like themselves, and 47 percent called him honest and trustworthy.

By contrast, 51 percent did not consider him strong and decisive, 50 percent would not call him honest and 56 percent said he didn't care about people like them.

...only 25 percent of those polled said they had great confidence in his administration's ability to rebuild the city and other Gulf Coast communities battered by Katrina, which slammed ashore August 29.

Another 43 percent said they had a moderate amount of confidence in the administration, while 21 percent said they had little confidence and 10 percent said they had none.

ETA, again: Well, thank god there's no one around to suck all the fight out of Democrats with some soporific...oh, shit! INCOMING!

Via Oliver Willis, John Kerry:

Natural and human calamity have stripped away the spin machine, creating a rare moment of accountability, not just for the Bush Administration, but for all of us to take stock of the direction of our country and do what we can to change it. That’s our job — to turn this moment from a frenzied expression of guilt into a national reversal of direction.

We’ve seen America at its best and our government at its worst. Millions of Americans are beginning to realize where they fit in our democracy under Republican governance: nowhere.

I believe that it is well past time to speak to the heart of the problem and to propose what we must do as a country in the aftermath of Katrina.

If the president won’t stand up and provide Americans with answers, then we must be willing to stand up and propose our own solution.

Clunk. Yes, that sound you hear is my head hitting the desk.

The poll did contain one bright spot for Bush, as 60 percent of those surveyed supported the confirmation of John Roberts, his pick for chief justice of the United States. Just 26 percent opposed Roberts' confirmation, while 14 percent had no opinion.

ETA, one more time: And speaking of John Roberts...things that make you go "hmmmmm."

But seriously, those numbers would mean a lot more if better than 20% were actually paying attention to his confirmation (which, we know from previous polls, they're not). Or maybe if they knew he was ruling in a case in which Bush was a defendant at the same time he was interviewing for this job.

But, Amanda was probably right: Abortion is actually going to have to be criminalized before people wake up. Of course, by then, it'll be too late to get Roberts off the bench. And the probably-even-worse choice Bush picks for the other seat.

But hey, you gals in the blue states, don't worry about it, they probably won't come for your pills and condoms first...