Poll: Democrats Lose Their Edge

June 4, 2007
Poll: Democrats Lose Their Edge

The Democrats in Congress have lost much of the leadership edge they carried out of the 2006 midterm election, with the lack of progress in Iraq being the leading cause. Their only solace: President Bush and the Republicans aren't doing any better.

Another figure underscores the public's broad grumpiness: Seventy-three percent now say the country's off on the wrong track, the most in just over a decade.

The shift away from the Democrats in Congress has occurred on two levels. In terms of their overall approval rating, the damage is almost entirely among people who strongly oppose the war in Iraq. In this group 69 percent approved of the Democrats in April, but just 54 percent still approve now -- a likely effect of the Democrats' failure to push a withdrawal timetable through Congress.

Their decline in leadership ratings vs. Bush is more broadly based -- that's occurred among war opponents and supporters alike, apparently reflecting more an assessment of their performance than an expression of support or opposition.

The toll of this discontent is unmistakable. Bush has not seen majority approval in any ABC/Post poll since January 2005; in presidential polling back to the late 1930s, only President Truman stayed so low for a longer period of time. And Americans are nearly three times as likely to "strongly" disapprove of Bush's job performance (46 percent) as to strongly approve (17 percent).

Democrats Bungle War Talking Points

June 4, 2007
Democrats Bungle War Talking Points

Goffstown, N.H -- Ever since Senate Majority leader Harry Reid provoked a firestorm last April by declaring "the war is lost" -- without attributing defeat to President Bush -- Democrats have scrambled to pin the Iraq fiasco on the Republican Party.

Leading Democratic presidential candidates have had trouble, however, keeping the strategically critical issue of blame in focus. In the debate Sunday night at St. Anselm College here, neither Barack Obama nor John Edwards directly targeted Bush on his culpability for the war.

Anti-war groups resent Democratic dealmakings

May 23, 2007
Anti-war groups resent Democratic dealmakings

Anti-war activists vowed they will have long memories about the deal
Democratic leaders struck with the Bush administration this week on Iraq war
funding, warning that they will exact retribution from lawmakers in both
parties in 2008.

Enraged by what they considered capitulation by Democrats, anti-war leaders
vowed to redouble their efforts at defeating the next funding request when it
comes up as expected in September. The group MoveOn.org, which previously had
been an ally of the Democratic leadership on the war issue, in a statement
raised the specter of "in-district advertising and recruitment of primary
challengers" as punishment for Democrats who supported the deal.

Democrats Become the Minority Party

May 24, 2007
Democrats Become the Minority Party

WASHINGTON, May 23 — Congressional contortions over the Iraq spending
bill could end up with most House Democrats momentarily occupying the position
they were so desperate to vacate: the minority.

The decision by the Democratic majority to strip the measure of a timetable
for troop withdrawal has raised the prospect that it could be approved mainly
by Republicans with scattered Democrat support. The idea that many Democrats
would be left on the losing side in a consequential vote has exposed a sharp
divide within the party, drawn scorn from antiwar groups, confused the public
and frustrated the party rank and file.

Who Won The Iraq Spending Showdown?

May 24, 2007
Who Won The Iraq Spending Showdown?

Much of the this morning's coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan war spending
bill focuses on who won and who lost the showdown. Some reports conclude that
Republicans may have won this round even if their victory is not complete and
may be short-lived.

The AP says "Democrats may have lost their fight with President Bush
over a timetable for ending the war in Iraq," but "they won billions of dollars
for farm aid, hurricane victims, veterans and health care for poor children."
President Bush "vetoed a $124 billion war funding bill containing $21 billion
in unrequested funds," but the White House negotiators "signed off on a $120
billion measure containing four-fifths of the additional money." Indeed,
although one reason President Bush cited for his veto of the first Iraq war
spending bill was the inclusion of "extraneous" funds by congressional
Democrats, the compromise he is expected to sign includes billions of dollars
of non-Iraq related funding.

A Widening Chasm Between Congressional Democrats and Voters on Impeachment

May 21, 2007
A Widening Chasm Between Congressional Democrats and Voters on Impeachment

So far, Democrats in Congress and at the top of the party hierarchy, out of
touch with public sentiment and worried that impeachment could hurt them with
"independents"--whom they mistakenly consider to stand somehow "in between"
Democrats and Republicans--have been following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's vow
that for the 110th Congress, "impeachment is off the table." They've been doing
more than that: they have been actively working to tamp down, and even to
crush, impeachment campaigns in the states. For example, in the state of
Washington, an effort to get the state to pass a joint legislative resolution
which would have compelled the Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings was
derailed after the Democratic leadership dispatched two of the state's leading
federal elected officials, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jay Inslee, to press
legislative leaders to block a floor vote. Similar pressure doomed efforts that
might have passed in the legislatures of New Mexico and Vermont (The Vermont
Senate did pass the resolution).

Democrats to fund Iraq war with no pullout date

May 22, 2007
Democrats to fund Iraq war with no pullout date

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush won a battle over nearly
$100 billion to fund the Iraq war as Democratic leaders in Congress on Tuesday
abandoned efforts to withdraw troops for now but pledged to try again in
July.

Instead of setting schedules for pulling U.S. troops, it appeared the
Democratic-run Congress and the Republican White House agreed for the first
time to include conditions prodding Baghdad to make better progress toward
quelling violence or risk losing around $1.3 billion in U.S. reconstruction
aid.