DESPITE THE GOP SMEAR TACTICS ON SPEAKER PELOSI'S FACT FINDING TRIP TO SYRIA, HER APPROVAL RATINGS SOAR AND BUSH'S CONTINUE DEEPER INTO THE TOILET

People are just getting to know who Nancy Pelosi is. But as they get to know who she is and that she's standing up to Bush, they're looking her more and more postively. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp Poll her favorables (among those who recognized her name-- which in itself has risen from 64% in November to 75% last week) climbed to 45% from 41%. Bush Regime smear tactics have also driven up her unfavorable ratings.

Meanwhile Bush's own ratings are in a virtual free fall. He is more despised by the day. "More Americans disapprove of President Bush's stewardship of the country than they did in March... Last month, Bush's disapproval rating was at 56 percent, but it has climbed to 62 percent, while his approval rating dropped from 37 percent to 36 percent. The last time the majority of people approved of the way the president was handling his job was in March 2005. 'The president has been without majority approval for over two years," CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider said. "That's longer than any president since Harry Truman.'"

Republican fortunes are falling even among the party's base-- those taught to never even try to think on their own, the evangelicals. Yesterday's Washington Times, the Moonie paper, says the evangelicals absolutely hate the current crop of pathetic candidates the GOP is offering for the presidency. You've got Dobson telling his sheep, "I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," while he and Falwell-- "I couldn't support him for president"-- both slam Giuliani. And virtually all evangelicals see Romney as a member of a dangerous non-Christian cult. "Richard Land, president of the Religious and Ethics Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, takes a hard line against virtually all the major Republican candidates. He says he'd vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, over Mr. Giuliani if the 2008 presidential race came down to such a choice." Land says he doesn't trust McCain either.

Among multimillionaires who have thrived under Bush's tax system and profited from the way his regime has restructured the economy, there is still a great deal of loyalty and is remains a force to be reckoned with when it comes to extracting political contributions. Although it can be a double-edged sword-- as Kentucky closet queen Mitch McConnell found out when Bush came to Louisville to solicit donations from the city's wealthy elite-- Republican candidates are still clamoring for Bush to come to their districts to raise money for them... a long as they don't have to be in pictures with him.

But as Bush and congressional leaders head towards a showdown tomorrow-- and with Cheney squawking about the Democrats backing down-- most Americans would rather trust Congress than the failed Bush Regime to set the course. Today's Washington Post claims only a third of Americans think Bush should be allowed to determine Iraq policy.

Democrats appear to be standing on firm political ground, as they work toward a final bill. A Washington Post-ABC News poll of 1,141 adults, conducted April 12-15, found that 58 percent trusted the Democrats in Congress to do a better job handling the situation in Iraq, compared with 33 percent who trusted Bush.

The president has taken advantage of Congress's spring recess to pound Democrats over their legislation, which would impose benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet; create strict rules for resting, equipping and training combat troops; and set a 2008 date for the final withdrawal of U.S. troops. Despite those efforts, Bush has lost a little ground to Democrats, who in February were trusted by 54 percent to set Iraq policy.

Pessimism about the war has continued to grow. For the first time, a narrow majority of Americans, 51 percent, said the United States will lose the battle, compared with 35 percent who said the United States will win. Bush continued yesterday to say that victory in Iraq is pivotal to the larger fight against terrorism, but Americans are increasingly agreeing with the Democratic view that the issues are separate. About 57 percent now say the United States can succeed in the terrorism fight without winning the Iraq war, an increase of 10 percentage points since January, when Americans were almost evenly divided on the question.