Another Poll Shows Bush at a New Low

But most significantly:

The CIA leak case has apparently contributed to a withering decline in how Americans view Bush personally. The survey found that 40 percent now view him as honest and trustworthy -- a 13 percentage point drop in the past 18 months. Nearly six in 10 -- 58 percent -- said they had doubts about Bush's honesty, the first time in his presidency that more than half the country has questioned his personal integrity.

And look, for those readers who don't get the point of tracking Bush's sinking popularity: it's not about whether the man will remain President (of course he will), but what he'll be able to accomplish as President in his remaining years. The more unpopular and radioactive he is, the less political capital he has to implement his more radical policies. It's a pretty simple political calculus that even George Bush understands, as evidenced by his statement right after the election that he had political capital, and intended to spend it. Well, he did spend it. In fact he blew it on Social Security. And now he has very little left.

And it's not about following polls, either. It's a little thing called reality that some people had best reacquaint themselves with, because it's coming back, hard. The magic trick is up, and the cultural trance is being shattered. After all, one can only suspend one's disbelief for so long-- and the American people seem to be about done with the fictions that the Bush administration has spun for the last five years. If you want to be the last fool at the circus-- well, I'm not going to stop you from cheering on the emaciated elephants. Meanwhile the rest of us want our friggin' money back.