IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO WINS IN MICHIGAN TODAY-- NOT EVEN A LITTLE, EXCEPT FOR PEOPLE WHO ENJOY WATCHING THE PYGMIES EVISCERATE EACH OTHER

The magic is rubbing off

Remember George W Bush, the one whose venality, arrogance, stupidity and incompetence has caused so many problems for America? People would like to forget he ever existed but a new poll-- from a traditionally lagging indicator-- reports that his approval ratings have hit a new low. Who cares? Everyone who focuses on Republicans is focused on the pack of Republicans whose mostly shared objective is to personify a third term for the hated and failed Bush-- collectively known, in some circles, as the "pathetic pygmies:" John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, The Huckster, Willard, Frederick of Hollywood... anyone else still in that snakepit?

Beset by growing economic concerns on top of the long unpopular war in Iraq, President Bush starts the last year of his presidency with the worst approval ratings of his career.

Just 32% of Americans now approve of the way Bush is handling his job, while 66% disapprove. Bush's work on the economy has likewise reached a new low. And he shows no gain on Iraq; despite [a gigantic propaganda effort-- mostly swallowed by the gullible mass media that there has been] reduced violence there, 64% say that the war was not worth fighting, 2 points from its high.

None of the pygmies agree with that assessment. McCain talks about staying in Iraq for another 100 years and Giuliani, The Huckster, Gramps and Willard have made it clear that they're as eager to steal Iraq's oil as Bush and Cheney. 77% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track. I'm surprised the number isn't much higher.

Something tells me the fake Draft Bloomberg "movement" he has some hack operatives working on for him, is going to lead anywhere. And the pygmies? I think McCain is the frontrunner this week so it's worth considering the opinion of those who know him best-- his Republican colleagues in the Senate and Senate staffers. Every year the staffers are polled by the Washingtonian and every year the single out McCain for dubious honors like Worst Follower and Hottest Temper. In 2006 most Republicans voted for George Macaca Allen as the senator they would most like to see in the White House this year. And most Senate Democrats voted for Barack Obama. But tying for third place: McCain and Hillary. But it isn't just the staffers who detest McCain; their bosses, the senators, do as well. Not equally hated outcast Joe Lieberman or way too light in the loafers Lindsey Graham (AKA- McCain's Mini-Me)-- but virtually everyone else. This morning's Congressional Quarterly noted that quite a few of them want to puke at the thought of McCain winning the presidency.

As champions of national security and foes of earmarks, Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas share much in common ideologically with fellow Republican John McCain.

But that doesn’t mean he’s their choice for the GOP presidential ‐nomination.

DeMint backs former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Cornyn, who clashed with McCain over immigration policy, is officially uncommitted. “He hasn’t endorsed anyone for president... and doesn’t have any intention to,” a Cornyn aide said.

...DeMint and other conservatives in the House and Senate say they see a unified GOP election-year message as the best way for the party to regain control of Congress in the 2008 election. They’d prefer that unity to extend to the presidential nominee.

For instance, Rep. Joe L. Barton of Texas wants to see a 2008 version of the “Contract With America”-- a new list of political promises that would energize the party’s conservative base. “We could agree on a number of things, like making tax cuts permanent and cutting spending,” Barton said.

But McCain has refused to take the “no new taxes” pledge that has become standard for most GOP congressional candidates.

...McCain backs several initiatives, to the consternation of many fellow Republicans, that are likely to be campaign issues: a cap-and-trade carbon emissions market to combat global warming, closing the Guantánamo Bay prison, allowing re‐importation of prescription drugs.

McCain has drawn fire from some of the other GOP presidential contenders for backing a plan to give undocumented workers a path to citizenship, putting him in sync with President Bush but out of step with many congressional Republicans.

DeMint, a national co-chairman of the Romney campaign, has been pointing out discrepancies between McCain’s record and mainstream conservative thought.

Should he become the GOP nominee, Democrats can be expected to emphasize disparities between McCain and his party’s positions, too-- though that may break as a net advantage for McCain, whose past electoral successes have been built on his willingness to break ranks when he feels it is necessary. Support from independent voters was a key to his success in the New Hampshire primary.

...“If he became the nominee or was elected president, it would be a net negative for conservatives in Congress,” said a senior Senate GOP aide. “While he is strong on pork barrel spending and the war, he’s either vocally against us or absent from the debate on a host of other issues such as global warming, campaign finance reform and immigration.”

But McCain becoming the Republican nominee-- if only because the rest of the field is so utterly implausible-- isn't that far-fetched. Becoming the third Bush term? Not gonna happen. Even Frederick of Hollywood, widely considered a McCain stalking horse who will retire from politics in a couple of weeks-- disappointing no one other than his overly ambitious wife-- has taken to attacking McCain... a little. It really is a shame "None of the Above" isn't on the GOP primary ballot. He'd win by a landslide.