Bush numbers keep slipping

[newbie]

The latest newsweek poll shows the following:

Bush's:

job approval - 38%

handling of Katrina - 43%

post handling of N.O. - 44%

approval as strong leader - 49%

handling of economy - 35%

handling of Iraq war - 36%

handling of terrorism and homeland security - 46%

I'm sure the right will find other polls to dispute, but overall this is pretty bad news for Dubya.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509120007

[Black Dog]

Here's the article.

I found one tidbit that, to me, sums up the state of the American way:

50 percent of those polled said they feared the federal government would spend too much on reconstruction, and 45 percent said Americans should make "major sacrifices" to pay for the effort. But only 20 percent said they would be willing to make those sacrifices themselves.

[Montgomery Burns]

I am not impressed with the spending Bush has allotted for the Katrina disaster. Don't get me wrong, I'm in favor of the federal govt being involved in disaster relief. It makes sense for the feds to help people, cities, and states that have caught the brunt of an "Act of God." That's just good common sense, especially in a case where the damage is on such a wide scale that charities and the states affected just don't have the capacity to help get everyone quickly back up on their feet.

However:

On the sprawling, dusty grounds of Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant and Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Tex., the recreational vehicles and mobile homes are arriving at a rate of 100 a day before being shipped out to the fringes of Hurricane Katrina's disaster zone.

Those trailers, among 300,000 to be purchased with nearly $5 billion of federal money, have become a focal point of criticism of the Bush administration's early rebuilding efforts. Some conservatives blanch at the cost. And many critics fret that mobile homes will hardly protect their residents from the next storm.

...Edgar O. Olsen, a conservative housing economist at the University of Virginia, said he pestered the Federal Housing Administration and HUD with faxes, imploring them to scrap the mobile home contracts for rental vouchers.

After all, he noted, rental occupancy rates are at historic lows, as are rents. There are more than 1.1 million available units in the South, with an average rent of less than $700 a month. Houston's vacancy rate stands at 15.6 percent. But Olsen said he has received no response."

"Compassionate" conservatism

And you just know that these 300,000 trailers will cost more than $5 billion. And then Bush said that spending $60 billion would prove America's "compassion". Like you can prove compassion by spending taxpayer money without their say so.

Then there's the $5,000 of "job training and education" for evacuees. Okay, so my condo burns down tomorrow and the govt owes me $5000 USD worth of job training, a $2000 USD FEMA debit card, and a mobile home at taxpayer's expense?

The amount the federal govt is spending on Katrina is completely out of proportion to any previous natural disaster in the US. Up until Katrina, the most expensive natural disaster in American history was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which cost $25 billion dollars. And before someone starts talking about the inflation rate from 1992 to 2005, you just know that that $60 billion will end up costing double that. Govts are simply not efficient; everyone knows that.

I think Bush's foreign policy is very good, but some of his "compassionate conservatism" domestic policies leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes he seems to spend like a drunken Ted Kennedy.

P.S. Newbie: Sorry for ignoring your OP and replying - somewhat - to Black Dog's post, but polls don't interest me a whole helluva a lot, since they are not necessarily noted for being terribly accurate. I remember Reagan's approval ratings being in the high 30s in 1983; he was reelected in a landslide 525-13 electoral vote and won 49 states in 1984.

Besides, you posted the same topic twice.

[losiguy]

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