and considering the relentless propaganda campaign of distortion and lies conducted these past couple of weeks, it's incredibly encouraging that the american public is so solidly supporting obama -- and most satisfyingly -- rejecting the republicans.

Republicans want to be able to say, "We told you so," if the economy continues to struggle in the coming years.

And since the economy will continue to struggle in coming years, it's not a bad bet to take -- really, given Republicans' position as failed policymakers, it's all they have. Even if the economy improves measurably, the GOP will downplay gains and claim that the stimulus "didn't work."

The question is whether most voters will fall for that. Polls like this are an encouraging sign that they may not. If weeks of constant drumbeating by the GOP and the MSM failed to convince the electorate that Obama is insufficiently bipartisan and that the stimulus is a bad idea, I'm (perhaps too) hopeful that voters will be able to see through the GOP's spin going forward, too.

Mark my words: the Obama admin will Nationalize the major banks soon, although they might not use that N word when doing it. The GOP will oppose that too, thus betting the ranch on bad times thru Nov 2010.
Nationalization is the key to restoring normal lending, and people WANT govt intervention: Citigroup's stock went up 10% (while all others plummeted) because of yesterdays's announced stock purchase (not a giveaway).
It seems that the Repubs are on an all-or-nothing track, one that requires them to subvert the US economy as much as possible in the hope of recovering a few seats in Congress. Only true patriots (like David Vitter and Eric Cantor) understand that doing the right thing means destroying the country.

The GOP may be positioning themselves to make certain political arguments in '10 and '12 BUT if along the way their popularity continues to sink it's not a winning strategy. It doesn't matter what their arguments are if The People think the GOP is betting on America's failure to win an election or two. They don't seem to understand that things have fundamentally changed, it's like the rest of the adults are playing chess and they're still playing tiddleywinks and eating paste.

I think the big problem in the Republican's position is that they are clearly hoping for failure, hoping that economic pain will increase to the point that people give up on Obama. But that's a fallacy-- if the economy ever does get to that point, it's unlikely that the battle cry will be 'Abolish the capital gains tax'.

The Greedy old Party is just that.

We are in a new paradigm. The entire planet is retrenching after years of money making money for itself and many nations having only governments for the rich and nothing but the rich so help us god.

People want positive stuff. The repugnacans are quintessentially trying to negate, negate, negate.

I'm somewhat disgusted with the amount of "airtime" the losers have had of late.

They need to shut up.

I know that's asking a lot, but I ain't listening anyway.

Thing is that that is not a garden variety recession. Even if things are bad in 2010, people may still be pulling with the President, and his party, as they did in 2004 when the Iraq war was going badly.

Republicans want to be able to say, "We told you so," if the economy continues to struggle in the coming years.

I suspect the economy will begin rebounding before the mid-term elections and Republicans will be scrambling to find a new message and sharply divided over what it should be. Right now, many Republicans have not lost faith in their old ideology of tax cuts, reduced regulation and trickle down economics. They actually agree with Rush and hope Obama fails because success would challenge their "faith-based" economic theories. They can't accept that those policies created the mess we're in and protecting their beliefs is their most important goal.

The polls tell a lot. Millions of Boomers are now facing retirement without the 401K's they spent a life time tending. The homes they worked hard to pay off have declined badly in value. For lots of Boomers the American dream has become a nightmare. People are hurting. The insulated Republicans don't realize that hurting people are people who are paying attention. The old bullshit just doesn't cut it anymore.

A better way to position yourself as an "I told you so" would have been to go along, but with loud reluctance. The current Republican path leads directly to irrelevance. By 2010 a third party just might emerge.

I suspect the economy will begin rebounding before the mid-term elections and Republicans will be scrambling to find a new message - tomb

Like this one?

I listened to some Rush yesterday and it all became pretty clear. Basically the GOP is having a serious echo chamber problem-- they don't listen to anyone outside of it. Rush was screaming that EVERYONE he hears from is OUTRAGED, EVERYONE hates the stimulus, EVERYONE distrusts Obama, EVERYONE hates dems, etc. He even made multiple references to the "revolution" that is coming. Then these polls come out showing that the majority of Americans support Obama and think the GOP is playing politics. Hmmmm...

So if the GOP keeps listening to Rush and convinces themselves that everyone feels the way that they do, they're doomed to more and more failure. I hope they don't change a thing.

"releasing Aerosmith-[NON]backed videos bragging about their opposition"

Fixed.

Americans might have short memories, but not that short.

Republican "economic ideas" have become very transparent lately - underfund government and then un-fund government!

I have yet to see any elected Republican official aver anything but economic hooey over the past 8 years. Cantor doesn't get that his dog don't hunt no more.

The American people I live among (middle class neighbors struggling to meet monthly obligations while trying to dream of a better tomorrow - like tomorrow)are hurting, and these Bozos want tax cuts and nothing more?

I'm tired of Reagan's observation - government is the problem - gone awry.

In my country the government is my government, so if the government is the problem, then I am the problem, but I want solutions, and so I want a smart government as my government to help where and when it can in allowing me to live out my life in economic stability.

Accumulation of wealth may be all good, but the wealthy should not run roughshod on the rest of us, and that is what the Republican party represents to me at this time (power and privilege for the richest 5% only). Until the Republican party changes its tune, it will continue on its path to the dust bin of my country's history. -Kevo

Yes, Reps like low-taxes, doesn't everyone??? DEMOCRATS have had majority in Congress since @))^(thats 2006 in caps...). Both Bush and McCain have memos ON PUBLIC RECORD that there were problems in Fannie/Freddie in 2006! So, everybodys a crook,inept,vague,greedy in Congress. Lets not reelect ANYBODY

zoe kentucky wrote: "I listened to some Rush yesterday and it all became pretty clear [...] Rush was screaming that EVERYONE he hears from is OUTRAGED, EVERYONE hates the stimulus, EVERYONE distrusts Obama, EVERYONE hates dems, etc. He even made multiple references to the 'revolution' that is coming."

The right-wing extremist propaganda media including Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are now actively, openly inciting violence against the Obama administration and the Democratic majority in Congress with references to the Boston Tea Party and military "analysts" discussing the coming "race war".

Sarah Palin's campaign speeches tested this propaganda message, and found that not only was it very effective at riling up the dittoheads, but that the corporate-owned so-called "mainstream" media was willing to give it a pass rather than call it out as the seditious treason that it is.

Meanwhile, in right-wing Republican strongholds, particularly in the south, high-powered weapons are flying off the shelves as fast as beer-bellied "militia men" can load them into their SUVs.

The Republicans are playing with fire.

"...But I also think Republicans expected some kind of boost out of the recent economic fight, which featured a very aggressive p.r. push on GOP economic ideas. If the new poll results are any indication, their efforts haven't worked at all..."

What GOP economic ideas?! They don't have any "economic ideas." That might explain why their "efforts haven't worked at all."

From what I've seen despite the Stim Bill we're gonna lose 5 to 7 million jobs this year no matter what. So if the bill creates or maintains 3.5 million jobs Repubs are going to say I told you so anyway. Passing a bill is one thing. Turning around the economy is another. A lot more needs to be done and a lot of it won't start bearing fruit til after 2010. Now is no time to start crowing about poll numbers.

Danp: Like this one?

Ha, that was great. Mike K never seems to feel any humiliation as every single one of his predictions fails to come true.

every so often, you hear a horrific story along the lines of: angry jealous boyfriend slashes girlfriends' face with a razor, thinking that if he makes her ugly, no one else will want her, so she'll never leave him. The actual act of horrific violence? Calculated risk, making his own reality.

Or:: deprogrammed ex-cult member talks about how he was brainwashed into believing he would die if he stepped off of the compound, and would set up elaborate punishments akin to shock collars on a dog to insure he doesn't even come close to the compound borders. Calculated risk, creating their own reality.

I find today's GOP to be sadly analagous. Scream that progress isn't being made whilst actively preventing progress from being made, then claiming that progress will only be made if we do what they say. Calculated risk to make their own reality, ours.

This isn't just politics, this is extortion, this is "play my rules or I'm taking my ball & I'm going home" on a national, perhaps global, level.

Someone needs to remind those selfish jackals that we all own the ball, and they can no longer change the rules. If they can't deal with it, get the eff of the field. Temper tantrums are really unattractive in general, but even more so with doughy rich white guys.

shortstop - I loved his anonymous biography, complete with photos of the family.

shortstop - I loved his anonymous biography, complete with photos of the family.

Its cringe-inducing qualities cannot be adequately described. Y'all have to see it for yourselves. Mike K, who's currently on his third marriage, extols his own family values, then proceeds to take us through multiple photos of his dog before deigning to mention his wife. To his credit, though, the five children he's had by two or three women did make the first photo.

...and the dog is damn cute. And probably has a larger brain pan than anyone who would marry that guy.

However, we would all have to purchase new hard drives, if he displayed all of those he turned down for Work Comp.

But, I believe that crooning of "Back in the Saddle Again" is not being sung from atop Champion. The RepuGs are still sitting in their two holer with a dwindling supply of corn cobs.

I read the NYTimes article and the comments in reaction to it.

The meme on the right now seems to be that the "polls" may favor Obama and his policies, but that the "real poll" is the stock market which continues to fall. One commenter even went so far as to say that he would consider the Obama administration a success if the stock market was ticking back up and new jobs were being created, RIGHT NOW, and since that is not the case, the Obama admin has clearly been a failure.

Nevermind that the stock market is a huge psychological shell game, and what is good news for us hoi polloi, like a DECREASE in unemployment, has caused the stock market to fall in the past.

In any case, we DFHs must continue to say, as loudly as we can, and in as many forums as we can, that Obama inherited a huge mess and that it won't get fixed overnight, assuming that it's truly fixable.

"...releasing Aerosmith-[NON]backed videos bragging about their opposition..."

Yeah, a song about hookers and blow. In fact, wasn't Hookers 'n' Blow the name of the band that played at the GOP national convention after-party?

Now, if they're going to declare that the GOP is the Party of Hookers and Blow, they might get better poll numbers. Well, it depends on the quality of the hookers and blow, I guess. Are we talking fine pearlescent Peruvian Flake and high class Elliot Spitzer-style hookers, or yellow street crack and "Aphrodite who does it standing up behind the Dog & Suds"?

Of course the stock market is the real index - Oh wait, what did it say about Clinton again?

Do you really believe any Poll concerning the Republican party coming from the NY Times?