Dance With the Date That Brung Ya

With the 2006 midterm elections looming, Bush has released the box set of old hits. But are the songs a little played? Salon finds the answer in the latest Gallup poll.

Situation in Iraq/war - 42
Fuel/oil prices/lack of energy sources/the energy crisis - 29
Immigration/illegal aliens - 23
Economy in general - 14
Poor healthcare/ hospitals; high cost of healthcare - 12
Terrorism - 4
Education/poor education/access to education - 4
Federal budget deficit/federal debt - 3
Unemployment/jobs - 3
Taxes - 3
Social Security - 2
International issues/problems - 2
National security - 2
Environment/pollution - 2
Medicare - 2
Foreign aid/focus overseas - 2
Poor leadership/corruption/dissatisfaction with government/Congress/politicians/candidates - 2
Poverty/hunger/homelessness - 1
Ethics/moral/religious/family decline; dishonesty; lack of integrity - 1
Natural disaster relief/funding - 1
Trade deficit/foreign trade - 1
High cost of living/inflation - 1
Unifying the country - *
Judicial system/courts/laws - *
Abortion - *
Lack of money - *
Gap between rich and poor - *

Notice the complete absence of gay marriage even in the "negligible" section. Do you get the impression that Bush doesn't have the balls to just fire Karl Rove? Or even more likely, that our suspicions have been true from day one that Rove sets policy and even if Rove is out of ideas, Bush has even less? There's nothing left from these guys. They knew how to play with a lead, but they don't know how to come from behind. Even though the they still have control of the "liberal" media, they can't continue to keep the wool over the morons' eyes, not now that all the lies are finally trickling out into the light of day. In a pique of naive optimism, I'm prepared to say that our emperor's days may be numbered.

Now, let's watch as Bush tries to reassert his relevance by bombing France and flogging Ted Kennedy on Fox in primetime.