Bush / Clinton approval ratings observation

[edhopper]

When Clinton was going through impeachment his approval ratings were in the 60%s, but the talking heads treated him as if he had leprosy and decided he should be kept at arm's length and was the lamest of ducks.
Bush is the most disliked President in the modern era, yet the pundits still let him set the agenda, speak as if he still has the support of the American people. And question any politician that challenges him.
So McCain is the strongest candidate, because he stand with Bush on everything, and Clinton/Obama must constantly explain why they oppose the Bush policy.
This is seriously FU'd.

[LisaM]

1. Clinton left office with an approval rating of about 70%

But you'd never know it from reading GD: P! I remember after 9/11, hundreds of threads wishing that the Big Dog was back in charge.

But to your point, yeah, it's weird. Media piled on a popular president for no reason, but won't touch one with an approval rating in the 20s.

[edhopper]

2. What brings this to mine is

headlines like "Bush assures Americans about Economy" that I've seen of late, without a hint of irony.
And let's not even start about Iraq!

[AlCzervik]

3. This is an interesting topic, you know what's even weirder about the whole thing is

how Bush treated the press before 9/11 which was basically "Fuck off" and then how the press treated him after 9/11 "Can we blow you sir?" and it's almost like they've never full gotten out of the "And the people that knocked these buildings down will here from all of us soon" mode. It's like they've been totally totally cowed by him.

[Rageneau]

4. The Mainstream Media is the Public Relations arm of the GOP.

The MSM hated FDR. Hated Truman. Sucked up to JFK because he was cooler and richer and better-looking than any of them. Feared LBJ (rightly so). Feared and loathed but propped up Nixon to the very end (Don't let that Woodward-Bertsein myth persuade you differently.) Handled hapless Jerry Ford with kid gloves. Excoriated Carter and made his every moment misery. LOVED and still do with-a-love-that-wouldn't-die Reagan. Tried very, very hard to like Bush, and always propped him up, propagandized and pampered him. H_A_T_E_D Clinton as no American politician has ever been hated -- worse even than they hated FDR, Truman and Carter, combined. And tried as hard to love Jr Bush as adoptive parents could try, even though, in the end, he turned out to be so feral, stupid, destructive, dirty and mean, that the best they could finally do was tolerate him and include him in the annual family portrait.

The poeople of America always prefer and approve of Democrats (usually in spite of what the MSM does to denigrate them.)