Pirate's Cove

Which president had the record for lowest approval rating? If you guessed Carter, nope! It was Harry Truman, who bottomed out at 23% in November of 1951. George H. W. Bush eventually sank to 29%. Carter hit 28%, and Nixon was at 24% before he resigned. The last Rasmussen poll had Bush at 39%. I’m thinking he can bust Carter’s rating by the end of the week

GLYNCO, Ga., May 29 — President Bush took on parts of his conservative base on Tuesday by accusing opponents of his proposed immigration measure of fear-mongering to defeat its passage in Congress.

“If you want to scare the American people, what you say is the bill’s an amnesty bill,” Mr. Bush said at a training center for border enforcement agents and other federal agents here in southeastern Georgia. “That’s empty political rhetoric trying to frighten our citizens.”

It was the conservative opponents to whom Mr. Bush seemed to speak most forcefully here.

“If you want to kill the bill,” he said, “if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it. You can use it to frighten people.”

A senior official said later, “In no way was he questioning anyone’s patriotism or desire to do what’s right.”

It was a rare case of the president’s taking on the coalition that helped him win and keep the Oval Office, the same conservative radio hosts, bloggers, writers and members of Congress who contributed significantly to the defeat of immigration measures last year.

I wondered what people where all hot and bothered about, but had little time for netitude earlier in the day.

So, I’ll repeat: bite me, Mr. President. You really need to join us here in reality land. Some things, yes, you might have to go against public opinion on, but, some things, like illegal immigration, it might be wise to listen to the American people en mass. Cause my little buddy has something to say to you, W.