Bush Demands Freedom to Torture

A closer look at the actual poll results also shows that Bush's approval ratings on the war have not in fact improved -- they've been up and down ever since his career low of 28 last December. Indeed, his ratings on the war were higher in January and early September than they are now. And the percentage of Americans who think the war was not worth fighting is actually higher now than it was in late September.

The one number that is definitely trending upwards is the percentage of people who think the United States is making significant progress toward restoring civil order in Iraq. But it's still only 41 percent.

The Post's question on withdrawal is poorly phrased: "Do you think the United States should keep its military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there, even if that means continued U.S. military casualties, or do you think the United States should withdraw its military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further U.S. military casualties, even if that means civil order is not restored there?"

But even given such a limited choice, 53 percent of those polled last week said troops should be withdrawn, down a few points from the summer, but still up considerably from last year.

Bush v. Congress

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times that Bush's recent legislative victories (see yesterday's column, Congress Goes Belly Up) "underscore the surprising amount of clout that Mr. Bush still wields against a Democratic-run Congress. Late in his presidency, with his poll numbers stuck at record lows, he has been able to persuade Republicans to stick with him."

But, Stolberg writes: "Unlike presidents before him, Mr. Bush has not used the power of the Oval Office to hammer out a compromise with his legislative foes. Instead, he has vetoed bills he does not like, refused to budge on spending limits and let his subordinates do the negotiating -- a strategy that has his critics, including some Republicans, wondering why the most powerful dealmaker in Washington is not practicing the art of the deal. . . .

"When the White House and Congress are at an impasse, these critics argue, there is both symbolic and practical value for a president who appears to rise above party politics by trying to broker a deal."

E. J. Dionne Jr. writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "If Bush's strategy is to drag Congress down to his low level of public esteem, he is succeeding brilliantly. A Post-ABC News poll released this week found that only 33 percent of Americans approved of Bush's handling of his job -- and just 32 percent felt positively about Congress's performance. The only comfort for Democrats: The public dislikes Republicans in Congress (32 percent approval) even more than it dislikes congressional Democrats (40 percent approval).

"The Democrats' core problem is that they have been unable to place blame for gridlock where it largely belongs, on the Republican minority and the president."

The New York Times editorial board writes that "Congress certainly has not done [its] job. For six years, it stood by mutely or actively approved as President Bush's team cooked the books to justify war, drew the nation's electronic spies into illegal wiretapping and turned intelligence agents and uniformed soldiers into torturers at outlaw prisons.

"Now, with the opposition party in control on Capitol Hill, lawmakers have a chance to start setting right some wrongs in these areas. But there are disturbing signs that they will once again fail to do what is needed."

Among other things, the Times calls for the completion of a long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report "into what Mr. Bush and other officials knew about the intelligence on Iraq's weapons when they used it to stampede the country into war. . . .