Gloom and doom in the Thuglican ranks

Albert Hunt at Bloomberg news has some interesting observations

Private conversations with Republicans throughout America reveal doom and gloom about a politically paralyzed presidency and party. The on-the-record observations are almost as bleak.

``There's a lot of nervousness up here,'' says U.S. Representative Ray LaHood of Illinois. ``It's a very difficult time for Republicans.'' LaHood was one of 11 House Republicans who met with President George W. Bush this past week to tell him the party was in political peril.

``Unfortunately, the big issues will not be dealt with between now and the next election,'' says Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina.

``The country doesn't believe George W. Bush, it doesn't trust him, and with 19 months to go it's only going to get worse,'' predicts Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who ran Ronald Reagan's 1984 presidential campaign. ``There is nothing the president can do to get his (poll) numbers back up.''

According to those polls, almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Bush's job performance; that is Richard Nixon territory. A majority of the public approved of the performance of the last two lame-duck presidents, Reagan and Bill Clinton, at this same stage in their administrations.

Daily Embarrassments

While the other major democracies have, or are about to have, new leaders, America is mired in a rudderless status quo. A new embarrassment or scandal -- Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove -- seems to surface daily; the only good news for the White House is that occasionally these stories overshadow the bad news coming out of Iraq.

Bush is reviled around much of the world, has precious little political capital at home, and seems surrounded by hacks or the forgettable and faceless.

... Now, the dwindling band of Bush supporters have run out of fixes and are resigned to the contemporary assessments. Like Harry Truman, the patron saint of unpopular American politicians, Bush will be vindicated by history, they say.

Dream on.