Did you ever notice?

The most common words in any story about Bush's approval ratings in the past year are "all-time low," or some variant. Case in point:

In the aftermath of the latest crisis to confront the White House, Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC polls. Barely a third of Americans -- 34 percent -- think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government, which is slightly lower than President Bill Clinton's standing on this issue when he left office.

And you know what's great? There are all these stories now about how Bush must "chart a recovery." I haven't read them all, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most if not all of them are full of theories about spin, and spin about theories. And very few of them suggest the one thing he might do which could actually help him "chart a recovery," because it's simply not in his constitution: Stop being unethical.

ETA: Reddhedd in firedoglake has read more of them than I have, and written a good entry summarizing them. To summarize her summary, Bush is like a man at a poker table looking all around for a card that will help him fill his hand. But the dealer keeps saying, "no help."

After all, to who or what can he look? The vice-president? No help. He's tainted. Unified party support, the faith of the faithful? No help. Bush blew that with Miers, and I remain skeptical that he'll get it back. Rove? No help. Bush is pissed at Rove for either lying to him, screwing up a perfectly good evil scheme, or both. Congress? No help. Bush's staunchest defenders in congress have their own worries right now-and they can read poll numbers as well as we can if not better. Which brings me to: Spinning the indictment as partisan criminalization of politics? No help. People aren't buying it.

Later in the original item:

The survey also found that nearly seven in 10 Americans consider the charges against Libby to be serious. A majority -- 55 percent -- said the decision of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to bring charges against Libby was based on the facts of the case, while 30 percent said he was motivated by partisan politics.

"One thing you can't ever, ever do even if you're a regular person is lie to a grand jury," said Brad Morris, 48, a registered independent and a field representative for a lumber company who lives in Nashua, N.H.

Finally, a paragraph that virtually made me rub my eyes in disbelief. See if the same thing jumps out at you as it did at me.

Taken together, the findings represent a serious blow to a White House already reeling from the politically damaging effects of the slow government response to Hurricane Katrina, the continuing bloodshed in Iraq, the ongoing criticism of its since-repudiated claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and the bungled nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

"Since-repudiated." Finally! Reporters who acknowledge the evidence (when it's blatantly-overwhelming) and don't get caught up in the "republicans said/Democrats said" trap. It's about frickin' time.