Bush approval still dropping-- and the new conservative meme

The latest USA Today/Ipsos poll has Bush at a new low for their surveys-- 31%. Only half of self-identified conservatives think he's doing a good job.

Which is why I think the Huffington Post piece above is about to become a lot more relevant. The GOP is fully aware of the fact that they need to disassociate themselves with the White House this fall (many governors, senators, etc., have been declining to appear alongside him for months now). Unfortunately for the party and the rest of us, what appears to be the newly-dominant talking point has nothing to do with substantive change or reform-- it's just a way for the party to spin public frustration in a way that will help the current crop of neo-fascists stay in power.

The talking point, of course, is that Bush ins't a "real" conservative. That he's somehow duped the party into voting for him by pretending to be the real deal. It goes without saying that this is bunk. He hasn't vetoed a single piece of legislation, and both houses of Congress have been in lockstep with him on most every issue and appointment. My suggestion to Democrats-- note how often a Republican candidate has voted with the White House and say "If Bush isn't a conservative, neither is candidate X, who has voted with the White House 87% of the time."

Oh, about the HuffPost piece. It's a brief speech given to a conservative group about principle being sacrificed in the name of political gain, which has come to define the way they do business.