I was watching The DAILY SHOW last night

[pointblank]

and they had a segment about Bush's approval ratings. They showed him at 32% but next to his numbers they showed Poppy's (bush sr's) poll numbers at his lowest point, and he hit 29% at one point

WTF, how could that be? I was only a teen at the time, but I don't ever remember Bush sr being NEARLY as despised as dim-son...is the 29% correct and does anyone have a theory on this? (besides the obvious dumbing down of Amurka)


edited to change olbermann to Daily Show

[babylonsister]

1. Dimson is trying to beat his dad, racing him to the bottom. nt

[pointblank]

7. That was it!

I remember now, it was all about Shrub trying to outdo his father!....Shit, now I'm thinking it was the Daily Show.

I was a bit buzzed at the time! :toast:

[AlCzervik]

2. it could have been when he raised taxes or when he went to a supermarket

for a photo-op he didn't know how much milk cost so people thought he was out of touch which he was.

[0007]

3. The MSM is always quick to point out that Carter's numbers

were low.

Covering up shit with more bullshit.

[pointblank]

11. Yup

It seems to me though this prick should be in the teens by now.

WTF?

[0007]

15. In reality he is, the tip off is in the many polls that are being

run by CNN and MSNBC.

[VolcanoJen]

4. It was the recession, and his infamous "Read my lips" line.

I remember the height of Poppy's unpopularity clearly. It was staggering to me that he came off the Gulf War with huge ratings and within months was down in the 30's.

He was really battered around in his reelection bid as well, and came off as an out-of-touch elitist. The economy was really sucking, unemployment was high, and the guy started looking like he didn't even want to win.

Also... weren't people kind of pissed that Saddam Hussein was left in power? Now, in retrospect it seems like a wise decision, but at the time, I remember many conservatives being upset about that, as well as the fact that Poppy raised taxes despite his pledge.

I don't recall Poppy ever being really, really vilified by the American people, despite his low ratings. We just wanted to get rid of him and knew we had our chance. But there's no way people hated Poppy with the intensity that many feel toward his son.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. Poppy didn't have Faux News, either...

[maxsolomon]

14. i was pissed he left hussein in power

but not as much as the shiites were.

[texasleo]

5. economy, stupid

[CottonBear]

6. He raised taxes after his famous "read my lips: no new taxes" statement.

Actaully, that was the fiscally responsible thing to do, but it pissed off his GOP supporters.
Also, Poppy's presidency was really the third term of the Reagan presidency. People just got fed up with the Reagan-Bush policies after twelve long years.

[Sydnie]

9. It was on the daily show

and the new segment "The Smoking Poll". Compared the problems of the two admins ... bush Senior had a vp that misspelled potato ... junior had a vp that shot someone in the face. :rofl: Used to show just how much junior wants to outdo Poppa.

It was a shining moment of TV.

[pointblank]

13. YUP

now I remember..That was hilarious. Guess I did have one too many last night!

[NewJeffCT]

10. A lot of presidencies have their low points

Clinton was in the high 30s early in his presidency with Somalia, Waco, the first WTC bombing, gays in the military, etc happening early on.

I'm guessing Reagan was pretty low at times, too.

LBJ & Nixon were pretty low as well. I think Truman got pretty low for a while, too.

[Mabus]

12. Tax increase, a climb in unemployment and Jennifer Fitzgerald

GHWB increased taxes after saying he wouldn't. There was the first of the Bush family's no-job economic recoveries. When GHWB came into office unemployment was around 5.5 but climbed to almost 8%. And then there were the rumors of GHWB's affair with Jennifer Fitzgerald and other women.