View Full Version : Americans question Bush ethics; approval drops to new low



PUGalicious
10-31-2005, 05:22 AM
(Originally posted at The Subjective Scribe (http://scribeokc.blogspot.com/))


From The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102901223_pf.html):



The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush.

In the aftermath of the latest crisis to confront the White House, Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC polls. Barely a third of Americans -- 34 percent -- think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government, which is slightly lower than President Bill Clinton's standing on this issue when he left office.

> Read full article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102901223_pf.html)

Keep in mind, as noted previously (http://scribeokc.blogspot.com/2005/10/bush-should-listen-to-himself.html) on my blog, this president came into office promising a higher standard. In 2001, Bush said (http://scribeokc.blogspot.com/2005/10/bush-should-listen-to-himself.html):



First, we must always maintain the highest ethical standards. We must always ask ourselves not only what is legal, but what is right. There is no goal of government worth accomplishing if it cannot be accomplished with integrity.

Instead, arrogance of power has led to even greater lapses of ethics as this administration has lived by the standard of "the end justify the means." Truth has been the biggest casualty with transparency and accountability following close behind.

As Maureen Dowd noted (http://scribeokc.blogspot.com/2005/10/schemes-always-end-up-with-opposite.html), the grand schemes of this administration end up having the opposite results. The president's grand scheme of bringing a higher standard of ethics and integrity to our federal government has resulted in the polar opposite. His own administration is beseiged by incompetence, corruption, deceit, unaccountability, bitter partisanship and vindictive, strong-armed politics; meanwhile, his own party's leadership in Congress faces its own ethical challenges with their own "hammer" under indictment and their leader in the Senate under investigation.

This president wanted to leave a legacy greater than Reagan's, his idol. He will indeed leave a more profound legacy, but it will be a "greater" legacy of shame — more than Clinton and more than Nixon. History will not be kind to this president, and it's been his own (un)doing.