Did Bush Blink?

"Supporters see an engaged chief executive taking control of a situation and being unfairly blamed for circumstances beyond his control."

John Dickerson writes in Slate, I think somewhat tongue in cheek: "Based on what I'd been told by White House aides over the years, I expected to see the president asking piercing questions that punctured the fog of the moment and inspired bold action. Bush's question-asking talents are a central tenet of the president's hagiography. He may not be much for details, say aides, but he can zero in on a weak spot in a briefing and ask out-of-the-box questions."

Of course, Dickerson acknowledges this isn't the first time that this particular mythology has been challenged: "Those in the room with him during other briefings also say he didn't ask very sharp questions then, either. Former anti-terrorism official Richard Clarke and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill both wrote about Bush's lack of curiosity."

Seth Borenstein writes for Knight Ridder Newspapers about 12 longtime disaster experts: "All but one of them -- which included Republicans and Democrats, two former Federal Emergency Management Agency directors, former state and local disaster chiefs and academics who collectively have more than a century's experience -- whom Knight Ridder interviewed Thursday said they had a hard time buying the Bush administration's line."

I wrote at some length about the video in yesterday's column . The conservative Redstate blog wasn't impressed: "Dan Froomkin isn't interested in the real story -- just his cut and paste storyline. Tomorrow, more ways we can blame President Bush for the crabgrass in your lawn."

Poll Watch

Apparently, the CBS News poll wasn't a complete fluke.

Susan Page writes in USA Today: "Americans overwhelmingly oppose the proposed sale of cargo operations at six major U.S. seaports to a Dubai firm, calling it a threat to the nation's security, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Tuesday and Wednesday."

And not unrelatedly: "Bush's job-approval rating is 38%, 1 percentage point above the lowest rating of his presidency. His disapproval rating is 60%. The proportion who strongly approve of him has fallen to 20%, its lowest ever. The proportion who strongly disapprove has risen to 44%, the highest ever."

Here are the poll results .

Bush also experienced his poorest showing ever when it came to whether people consider him honest or trustworthy (52 percent said no, 47 percent said yes) or capable of managing the government effectively (59 percent said no; 40 percent said yes).

Fox News is out with new numbers as well: "For only the second time of his presidency, the poll finds that President Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen below 40 percent -- today 39 percent of Americans say they approve and a 54 percent majority disapproves. Late last year the president's approval hit a record-low of 36 percent (8-9 November 2005).

"This is also one of only a handful of times that Bush's approval has dropped below 80 percent among Republicans. Today 77 percent of Republicans approve, down from 82 percent in early February. Disapproval among Democrats went from 79 percent in early February to 84 percent today. Approval among independents is essentially unchanged at 35 percent."