Thursday, June 21, 2007

Today's Political Thought

The approval rating of George W. Bush is now down to 26% in one major poll. This is amazingly low. I mean, I think the guy is a terrible president in ways that have long been obvious to all, but I would have bet cash money that he'd have to have been indicted for killing a nun before he'd get down near that level.

But now here's my question...and yes, I know this will bring another rash of e-mails from folks who accuse me of pathological "Bush-bashing." These people obviously haven't surfed the 'net much because there are hundreds of thousands of sites out there that compare Bush to a chimp, fantasize about his imprisonment or execution, etc. I'm one of the more moderate voices. I'm also, at least on this, in sync with Mainstream America.

So here's what I'm wondering. I'm wondering what his approval rating really is...because it's got to be lower than that.

Follow me for a second on this. Pollsters ask their little questions and people answer them, and I can't imagine a reason why someone who thought well of Bush would answer that they disapproved of the job he's doing. But I can think of plenty why people who wish he would just disappear would tell pollsters they approve of the job he's doing.

One is that we're at war, and a lot of people think that in a time of war, you have to back your Commander-in-Chief. I don't buy the idea that it's betraying our troops to suggest that their leaders have sent them on the wrong mission or that the war has been run ineptly. But there are folks who think that way so no matter how much they privately think Bush has botched things and that "mistakes have been made," they'll tell everyone, pollsters included, that they're behind this war effort...and therefore, behind Bush.

We also have folks who may think Bush is a disaster but they like what he stands for...or at least what they thought he stood for when they punched out the chads by his name. To them, the fall of Bush is a victory for those who want to allow gay marriage, keep abortion legal, restrict gun ownership, etc. — so they won't say they disapprove of him even though they do. (I heard a guy on C-Span the other day who seemed to think that if Bush's approval rating gets low enough, John Kerry gets to finish out his term.)

And then you just have people who figure we're stuck with Bush so there's no point in giving up on him now. It's like if you were in a plane and there was reason to suspect the pilot didn't know where he was going. It might be emotionally preferable to tell yourself, "He'll figure it out," rather than admit how bad off you were.

There are probably other reasons to tell pollsters you approve of a president when you don't...and I'm not saying everyone who says they approve of Bush is lying or disingenuous or anything. But I also don't think most people who say they like him really like him. I don't think most of them liked him when they elected him, just as most people who voted for Kerry wished there was someone better to vote for. It always seems to come down to pretending that the lesser of two bad choices is a good choice. Bush's low ratings these days are not because so many people who voted for him have decided he's not a great president. It's because so many of them have decided to stop pretending.

• Posted at 11:28 PM · LINK

It's Good To Be The King

Paul Goebel, AKA "The King of TV," is video-blogging these days and his comments are worthy of your attention. Paul knows TV backwards, forwards and from the inside out.

If you scroll through his page, somewhere you'll find his commentary on who's going to replace Bob Barker on The Price is Right and why it won't be Rosie O'Donnell. I agree it won't be Rosie...or anyone else who might upstage the show itself. But I'm wondering if anyone at CBS has had this thought: Why not make the selection into a reality show? They could call it Who Wants to Replace Bob Barker? or something like that. Let John O'Hurley and George Hamilton and all the other names that have been rumored compete for the job on camera and let America call in and vote. I'm a little more than half-serious about this.

• Posted at 2:32 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

This is another segment from the local (Los Angeles) TV show, Two on the Town, with a profile of some then-popular voiceover announcers. Included are Danny Dark, who cartoon buffs will recognize as the voice of Superman on the Super Friends series. That was the least of his many credits. Also, you'll meet Bill Whitman and Ernie Anderson. In fact, you'll see a good example of how famously cranky Ernie could be. The guy had a great voice but a pretty bad attitude, and to hire him was to put up with that. (I did once...and only once.)

Near the end, you'll see Gene Moss, who had a pretty nice career in voiceover but who will always be remembered, by those of us who were around when you could see him do it, for hosting Shrimpenstein on Channel 9 here in the sixties. We wrote about him and that show back here and that old post still brings the occasional e-mail from folks who were prowling the Internet, searching for info on a favorite program of their childhoods.

• Posted at 12:32 AM · LINK