Torture's Smoking Guns

More tomorrow.

Poll Watch

John Whitesides writes for Reuters: "A record low of 21 percent in a Zogby poll gave positive marks to Bush's job performance. . . .

"Ratings for the Bush administration's foreign and economic policy plummeted over the last month, with the number of people who give positive marks to economic policy falling to a paltry 7 percent from 13 percent."

Cathleen Decker writes in the Los Angeles Times that a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll makes it clear that Republican presidential candidate John McCain "remains tethered to an unpopular president. Obama has repeatedly pressed the argument that the Republican's first term would be akin to George W. Bush's third. Americans generally agreed: 52% said McCain would continue Bush's policies, compared with 42% who said he would not."

Kristin Jensen and Heidi Przybyla write for Bloomberg: "Bush's influence is palpable in the survey: 84 percent of Americans say the country is on the wrong track. Only 23 percent approve of the way he's handling his job, less than the level of support for Richard Nixon before he resigned in 1974."

Michael Cooper and Megan Thee write in the New York Times on the latest New York Times/CBS News poll: "With the election unfolding against the backdrop of an extraordinary economic crisis, a lack of confidence in government, and two wars, the survey described a very inhospitable environment for any Republican to run for office. More than 8 in 10 Americans do not trust the government to do what is right, the highest ever recorded in a Times/CBS News poll. And Mr. McCain is trying to keep the White House in Republican hands at a time when President Bush's job approval rating is at 24 percent, hovering near its historic low."

Where's the Leader?

Walter R. Mears writes for the Associated Press: "In times of national stress, Americans usually turn to the White House for reassurance. But President Bush's attempts to provide it haven't registered because he does not inspire trust. His standing sagged to record lows in the polls even before the financial meltdown, undermining his credibility as the administration tried to chart a way out of it. Fear of financial collapse, not the persuasion of the president, got the $700 billion bailout enacted."

Nationalization Watch

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "In announcing plans to partly nationalize nine major banks yesterday, President Bush found himself in the unusual position of having to reassure Americans that he was not, in fact, opposed to capitalism. . . .

"The ongoing global financial crisis has prompted a series of unlikely decisions by Bush, an avowed advocate of laissez-faire economics who has nonetheless approved dramatic government interventions over the last month in an attempt to free up credit and stabilize collapsing financial markets."

Richard Wolf writes for USA Today: "For a former small businessman, Bush's interventionist policies represent a quantum leap from the free market approach he brought to Washington from his native Texas. 'I made a decision that is really opposite of my philosophy,' he told[Chantilly, Va.] small-business owners last week.

"The latest venture into commercial banks -- 'capital injection' in White House lexicon -- is but another in a series of philosophical concessions Bush has made when convinced that sticking to his principles would bring on economic calamity."

The Angry Right

John Farmer writes in his Newark Star-Ledger opinion column: "The Bush administration has come full circle -- from Karl Rove to Karl Marx.

"Who'd have believed it? Socialism with a Republican face!

"With political guru Rove leading the laissez-faire chorus, no U.S. administration ever has been as ideologically committed to regulation-free market capitalism as the Bush team -- not even the Coolidge-Hoover administrations of the 1920s, when another speculation spree preceded the Great Depression.

"Yet the level of government intervention under Bush is unmatched by anything since the liberal Roosevelt administration in the Depression-dogged 1930s. Predictably, it has produced a wave of fear and loathing in deeply conservative circles."

Indeed.

Matthew Benjamin and Rich Miller write for Bloomberg: "The heirs to the Reagan revolution say the free-market principles that have held sway for almost three decades in the U.S. are being undermined. And many of them blame the Bush White House.

"This week's announcement that the Treasury will buy equity stakes in nine banks for $125 billion capped a month of the deepest government intervention in the economy in seven decades. More is likely to come, as lawmakers extend oversight of financial institutions and other industries."

Libertarians, supply-siders and tax-cut advocates agree "that the Bush administration is the main culprit for the betrayal of President Ronald Reagan's philosophy, which has underpinned the Republican Party for a generation.

"'It was brought about by George W. Bush abandoning any kind of Republican principles,' said William Niskanen, chairman emeritus of the Cato Institute, a libertarian Washington research group. . . .

"Bush's Republican critics say the president was pushing for a bigger government role long before the rescue. They point to moves ranging from the $168 billion stimulus plan the administration negotiated with Democrats in February, to the 2003 Medicare prescription-drug program, which is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade."

Former congressman John LeBoutillier writes in his blog that Bush's "presidency has been anything but conservative. In fact, it has been the most incompetent, dis-honest and un-conservative administration - ever!

"Just look at these few items which, if done by a Democrat, would have brought calls from us on the Right not only to impeach but to imprison for life:"

His 16 bullet points include: "Lied, distorted and cherry picked US intelligence to scare the Hell out of a nervous American people after 9/11 to justify a pre-emptive invasion of a country that had not attacked us," "Mis-managed every aspect of the war in Iraq," "Showed true ineptitude - and a total lack of compassion - after that Compassionate Conservatism nonsense - in dealing with Hurricane Katrina," "Blustering and boasting and bragging at every turn about how we might bomb or attack or invade any country who dared to disagree with us" and "And now this year: one massive bail-out after another - over a trillion dollars - with talk of nationalizing banks and other industries."

Deficit Watch

John D. McKinnon writes in the Wall Street Journal: "The federal government ran a deficit of almost $455 billion in fiscal 2008, the White House reported, a record that will likely be far exceeded by the red ink in the current fiscal year.

"The widening deficit -- up from $162 billion for fiscal 2007 -- stemmed in large part from lower revenues and higher expenditures due to the troubled economy, as well as higher defense spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"As bad as 2008 was, the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, is widely expected to be far worse. The director of the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the annual deficit could hit $750 billion given the potential impacts from a possible recession and the financial markets' problems. Some private economists put the 2009 deficit at as much as $1 trillion."

Iraq Watch

Matthew Lee writes for the Associated Press: "U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain.

"The draft calls for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces. . . .

"The compromise allows Iraq to claim jurisdiction over Americans while preserving nearly all the protections U.S. forces and employees now hold in Iraq. The vagueness appears deliberate, thus allowing both sides to argue they got concessions they needed. . . .

"The draft, reached after months of halting and often tense talks, contains elements that are expected to further aggravate an already difficult effort to get the Iraqi government and parliament on board, the officials said.

"It also may draw objections from U.S. lawmakers, whose support is not legally required but is considered essential to the eventual success of any deal, according to the officials.

"However, the negotiating teams have decided they cannot improve on the proposal and have sent it to higher-ups for a political decision as time runs out on both the Bush administration and the U.N. mandate under which U.S. troops now operate, which expires on Dec. 31, they say."

Cheney's Heart

Vice Presidential Press Secretary Megan Mitchell announced this morning that Cheney had cancelled a planned campaign event in Illinois today to get his heart restored to normal rhythm.

"During a visit with his doctors this morning, it was discovered that the Vice President is experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart," she said in a statement. "Later this afternoon, the Vice President will visit George Washington University Hospital for an outpatient procedure to restore his normal rhythm."

Deb Riechmann notes for the Associated Press that this is "the second time in less than a year that he will have the procedure."

Another Sporting Event for Bush

Helene St. James writes for the Detroit Free Press: "President George W. Bush treated them like old friends who'd come back for one last visit, mentioning several by name and speaking in great detail of their accomplishments.

"The Red Wings enjoyed the last bit of pomp and circumstance befitting an NHL Stanley Cup champion Tuesday afternoon at the White House when they were honored by the president in a ceremony in the East Room. . . .

"'In 2002, the Red Wings were the first NHL team I hosted for a Stanley Cup ceremony,' the president said. 'Turns out they are the last team I'll be hosting. You guys may be back next year -- but not me. So I welcome you here.'...

"The team saw part of the White House before the ceremony, and spent a few moments talking to Bush in private.

"'I don't know how a president can ever be regular,' coach Mike Babcock said, 'but he is.'"

In her blog, St. James writes: "I'll say this: Regardless of one's political views, there's no doubt President George W. Bush knows how to talk sports."

Movie Watch

Roger Friedman writes for Fox News that "the real success of 'W' is that our current president comes off as sympathetic more often than not. [Director Oliver] Stone and his screenwriter Stanley Weiser do much to portray him as tortured son with a domineering father, a gullible lightweight who becomes almost a pawn in the hands of more demonic players. . . .

"Stone told me that during the making of the film, he actually came to feel sorry for George W. Bush. 'As a dramatist,' he said, 'not as a voter.' The movie, he agreed, plays more like a tragedy than a comedy."

J. Hoberman writes for the Village Voice: "This W. is the saga of a tormented, father-obsessed [expletive] who manages to play out his family drama on a world-historical stage."

Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin write for the D.C. Examiner about the movie's New York premiere last night: "The red carpet was filled with members of the 'W.' cast who were less than supportive of the current Republican administration. . . .

"James Cromwell, who played George Bush Sr., thinks Bush 43 ran the country like 'imperial Rome' and said that all he needs after being president 'is a good lawyer.'"

Neologism Watch

Upon reading yesterday's column, While Bush Fiddled, reader Max Lumens suggested the following neologism: "Nero-cons, the inevitable successors to Neo-cons. And boy, have we been conned."

Cartoon Humor

David Fitzsimmons on Che Bush and Britain's Peter Brookes asks: Who's the poodle now?