October 5, 2005 - Last Monday someone wrote into our local paper with a list of ten facts that are the basis for Bush's low approval rating. Among these items are OBL is still loose, NK and Iran are problems, there are 45 million uninsured Americans, and a weakening economy has soared energy costs.

Now, let's see what Clinton did to address these issues. OBL was never caught and before 9/11 he was much easier to find. North Korea has been a problem for long time and, as for Iran being a problem, do a web search for "Jimmy Carter Iran hostages." Was every American insured under Clinton? Did he blanket insure all of them only to have Bush take that away? I don't think there has ever been a time when every American had health insurance and I don't recall that health insurance is a guarantee. As for a weakening economy, I guess the reader wasn't reading the news for a few years. Yes, energy prices are soaring and what Bush could do about it is start drilling for oil.

The title of the piece is "Iraq War batters Bush Popularity." Perhaps the war should affect his standings with the public. Mistakes have been made and mistakes have been admitted. However, I don't seem to recall events like first WTC bombing, Somalia, Waco, Oklahoma City, or the unexplained explosion of TWA Flight 800 affecting Clinton's standing with the people. Is it because the press failed to blame Clinton for these events? The press wasted no time in blaming Bush for response to a hurricane that failed to convince 20% of the people of New Orleans to evacuate. Yet, Clinton gets no such blame, in other words - a free pass from the media, when tanks roll into a religious nut's compound and start a fire that kills 72 people; a toll which includes children. He gets no blame when a homegrown terrorist blows up a building in a large U.S. city. The thug who did that claimed his hatred for the government and its policies was the reason. The media called him a product of right wing extremism. If something like this happened under Bush's Presidency the headline would read "Killer's Frustration with Bush Policies causes him to Kill." It's not his fault, it's Bush's and the media would embrace this. Imagine the outcry if someone tried to blame Clinton for McVeigh's actions.

Sure, Bush' popularity may be low but let's remember who's reporting this and who controls the information that the people base these numbers on.