WHAT KIND OF A MAN IS GOVERNOR BOB TAFT?

Well, we couldn't ask the fish, but according to a just released Zogby poll Ohio voters rate Taft lower than any governor has ever been rated by anyone... anywhere. "I'm not aware of anyone who's ever sunk lower," pollster John Zogby told the TOLEDO BLADE. The only other governor to ever come close to Taft's dismal ratings was Illinois Republican Governor George Ryan, also caught up in a financial and bribery scandal.

Taft, who heads up a political organization so riddled with corruption and fraud that it is far more appropriate to call it an organized crime syndicate than the Republican Party, although in the eyes of more and more voters the two things are practically synonymous. Remember this is the... well, whatever you want to call it: party... mob, crime organization... that spawned Tom "CoinGate" Noe, Bob Ney, Deborah Pryce, Mike DeWine, "Mean Jean" Schmidt, Ken Blackwell, Jim Petro, Betty Montgomery and dozens and dozens of some of the most corrupt and venal politicians in America. Taft's approval ratings have now sunken so low that they are in single digits! Only 3% of Ohio voters rate him as "excellent" and, overall, his approval rating is 6.5%, making even the much hated Dick Cheney look like a winner!

Taft, recently convicted of ethics violations-- though as yet uncharged for his role in the theft of the 2004 presidential election or for his very key role in the systematic looting of the Ohio Workmen's Compensation Fund, two continuing investigations-- has steadfastly refused to resign. 61% of Ohioans think he should have. The particular charges on which Taft were convicted stemmed from the vast on-going scandal-- touching nearly ever elected Republican in the state (including most of the state Supreme Court, both U.S. Senators, and half a dozen congressmen)-- involving Noe, the former Republican chairman/fund-raiser/Taft golfing partner who was recently indicted on charges that include laundering money to Bush's 2004 campaign.

Although poll respondents have Bush a relatively high approval rating of 46% (most states rate him in the 30s and he's starting to slip into the 20s), approximately half of those same respondents believe Taft is running a "purposely corrupt" regime in Ohio. Taft's only comment was that he "doesn't govern by polls." Yes, we have all become painfully aware of just exactly how Bob Taft does govern!