Where's the Base?

But it's not just immigration, York writes. "What the numbers show is that, with the exception of terrorism, Bush has lost solid Republican support on a number of significant issues. Where that process ends is anyone's guess."

Fine With Them

From the anti-immigrant right, Lou Dobbs on CNN: "Tonight, President Bush, facing the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, is struggling to win support for any of his policies, from the war in Iraq and the nuclear confrontation with Iran, to his Medicare prescription plan and illegal immigration."

From the Bush-bashing left, Maureen Dowd in the New York Times (subscription required): "After trying not to emulate his father's presidency in any way, W. emulated it in the worst possible way. . . .

"The Bush presidency has devolved into an assertion of empty will."

Another Possible Explanation

Reader John Hodson of Sterling, Va., e-mailed me with one of the more intriguing analyses of the poll numbers I've seen yet:

"I don't believe that the president has had a true slide or fall from grace like other political figures might. In my opinion this administration has been pretty consistent in their quest to expand executive powers, focusing on the wrong things . . . and basic lack of accountability since early 2001. What did change during this time were the attitudes of the American public and the press. September 11th changed the way that the American people saw President Bush and the office of the president in general. They gave him much more credit than usual for small successes and refused to hit him hard for the many big mistakes of his first term.

"So many reports now are focusing on why his poll numbers are so low today (Iraq, gas prices, Katrina) but no one has examined the psychology of the American public and press that elevated the man to such high ratings not for what he had done but for what had been done to us. I would be interested to hear this as part of the discussion because if we can't learn what so many of us in America did wrong for five years, we will be sure to repeat these mistakes and give an undeserving leader entirely too much power over us again."

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Gitmo Watch

Bush gave two interviews last Friday to German news organizations. In one, he asserted that the finest moment of his presidency came when he caught a fish on his private lake. That one got a fair amount of attention .

But in the other one, with ARD German television , he made this startling assertion: "I very much would like to end Guantanamo; I very much would like to get people to a court. And we're waiting for our Supreme Court to give us a decision as to whether the people need to have a fair trial in a civilian court or in a military court."

Reaction is only now starting to burble up.

Dahlia Lithwick writes in Slate: "His statement was surprising for several reasons, not least because it represents a major reversal from prior policy statements about the camp."