The survey shows that by 41%-18%, Americans say recent news developments have made them less favorable toward continued Republican control of Congress; by 34%-23% they called themselves more favorably inclined toward Democratic control. It also shows a decline in Mr. Bush’s job approval rating to 39% from 42% earlier this month.
Even more problematic for Republicans’ campaign positions, the survey shows that a 46% plurality of Americans now believes the war in Iraq is hurting the nation’s ability to win the war against terrorism. That’s up from 32% earlier this month…
By 57%-37%, voters say that America’s safety from terrorism does not depend on success in Iraq, which has been a central assertion of Mr. Bush and Republican congressional candidates. And by 61%-29%, voters say Iraq is now in a state of civil war – a conclusion the White House has tried to forestall in the belief it would further erode support for Mr. Bush’s policy there. Even Republicans, by 47%-39%, share that assessment.
Everything is hurting the GOP. The NIE estimate confirming that the Iraq War is helping terrorists. Abramoff influence-peddling. Bill Frist saying that the Taliban should rule Afghanistan. Colin Powell saying he was fired. The Woodward book showing all the Bush lies.
And now, Foley-pedophile-gate.
The New York Daily News reported today:
"Congress has never been faced with so many criminal corruption scandals at once, ranging from suspicions of sexual misconduct to the biggest influence-peddling scam to hit Washington." American University historian Allan Lichtman added, "You’ve got to scour awfully hard to find anything compared to what we have now in Congress. It’s an explosion of corruption and scandal."
Yup.
And Josh Marshall adds:
Is it me or is all hell breaking loose in this country’s politics? We’re in the last month of an election cycle and there are maybe four or five stories, each of which could totally dominate the national political news on their own. And each is flaming out of control at once. You’ve got the Foley debacle. The revelations in the Woodward book. The NIE revelations that almost seem like old news now. A major part of the pre-9/11 story that somehow never saw the light of day and may bring down Condi Rice. And did I mention the election?
There’s a lot of desparation on the right. I guess that’s why Faux News is trying to misinform its viewers that Foley was a Democrat. They showed this image three times last night:
RELATED: A very funny (but sadly accurate) "dramatization" of one of the Foley IMs: