The Dish

Not-so-awful news for the president. He’s still unpopular, but not in free-fall. The Congress is less popular: with only 37 percent approval, boding ill for Republicans in 2006, when they are due for a market correction. Democrats are mad at their leaders for not opposing Bush more aggressively. Ditto, oddly enough, independents. But on the crucial issue, there’s good news for Bush, it seems to me:

Public attitudes toward the war have not changed significantly since the first of the year, the poll found. Slightly more than four in 10 – 42 percent – approved of the job Bush is doing in Iraq; 57 percent disapproved, unchanged in recent months. Slightly more than half – 53 percent – said the war was not worth it, while 46 percent said it was, identical to the results of a Post-ABC poll two months ago. By a 51 percent to 38 percent ratio, the public said the United States is winning the war, despite mounting casualties and insurgent attacks.

A majority (54 percent) continued to say the United States should keep military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there; 44 percent said U.S. forces should be withdrawn. Six in 10 opposed announcing a timetable for withdrawal. Only about one in eight — 13 percent — said U.S. forces should be withdrawn immediately.

I don’t think the administration can blame the press or the public for dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Iraq war. the public has been patient and supportive, especially of the troops. The Congressional opposition has been largely meek. Bush has been given a chance to make the war work. And he will and should be held responsible if it is ultimately deemed a failure.

Kos can’t help himself:

This is the greatest disaster to hit our nation in most of our lifetimes. Worse than 9-11.

It is indeed devastating. But we do not know how many have died; and we also know that this was an act of nature, not a premeditated attempt to murder innocent people. Do some on the anti-war left have to keep minimizing what happened on 9/11? And then, of course, it’s impossible for Kos to mention an awful tragedy without a dig at president Bush. That said, he has a point. The photograph he mentions from yesterday does strike me as completely off-key, and a pretty terrible p.r. posture for a president in the middle of a natural catastrophe. Who on earth signed off on that one? Playing a guitar? It’s the kind of image that can truly alter the perception of a president.

“The people of Bangaladesh have to live in a river delta because their whole country is one. Americans, by contrast, inhabit a roomy country and do not have to put themselves in the path of catastrophes that are completely predictable except as to date and time in order to make a quick buck in real estate or enjoy the view and a nearby swim for a few or many years. We need to have a serious think about whether it’s the duty of the rest of us to subsidize these choices.” – Mark Kleiman, asking some perhaps-too-soon questions raised by Katrina. The debate is worth having. But it should not detract from simple human sympathy for those caught in this awful event.
CORRECTION: That post on Mark Kleiman’s blog was by a guest-blogger, Michael O’Hare of the Goldman School at UC Berkeley.

A law-suit against a reader’s comment.

“Full blame for the misuse and abuse of the National Guard belongs to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, a testily glib figure of monumental complacence. Unlike many of my fellow members of the Democrat party, I don’t hate George Bush or regard him as venal. He is sincere but narrow: most problematic in his presidency is his curious inability to fire those who have given him lousy advice and betrayed their stewardship. Is it some sentimental twist on family loyalty?” – Camille Paglia on misjudgment in the conduct of the war in Iraq.

Instapundit has compiled a series of charity links for the victims of Katrina.

GAY ANIMALS: The animated version.

Britain considers banning “violent and abusive” pornography. My response is basically this one.

Some Germans start lecturing the U.S. about global warming. As if any serious expert believes this is in any way connected. And while the waters continue to rise in New Orleans. Extra points to the Green Party, of course.

I haven’t commented on Katrina because there is nothing much to say that isn’t being reported by others far more qualified than me. But the devastation is still gut-wrenching and all-the-more disturbing for coming slowly, after the initial storm. The rest of us can pray and pitch in where we can.

“Too many Christians think if they shout loud enough and gain political strength the world will be improved. That is a false doctrine. I have never seen anyone “converted” to a Christian’s point of view (and those views are not uniform) through political power. I have frequently seen someone’s views changed after they have experienced true conversion and then live by different standards and live for goals beyond which political party controls the government.” – Cal Thomas, today. I differ with Thomas on many issues, but he has a long record of being committed to the role for faith that I believe is found in the Gospels, not the broadcasts of politicized televangelists. I wish more political conservatives would speak up in this way – for the sake of politics and Christianity.

GAYS AND LESBIANS: Common goals; very different cultures.