* charlie cook via laura:
"The more important finding in the poll ... was that only 18 percent strongly approved of the job Bush is doing, while 43 percent strongly disapproved. [...] So in the last three polls that measured the intensity of job approval, the president's strong approval ranged from 18 percent to 20 percent but his strong disapproval ranged from 42 percent to 47 percent. [...]
There comes a point for some unfortunate presidents when the American people begin to hit the mute button; they just stop listening. Or to put it differently, when the public turns strongly against an elected official on an issue, they begin to turn on that official on everything. In this case, Iraq has become a ball and chain for President Bush, weighing him down on every issue. The separation between his weakest issue, Iraq, and his strongest, terrorism, is just five points"
* froomkin: "Lawrence F. Kaplan writes for the New Republic: "Although a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) declines to comment on its existence, and the press has yet to carry a single mention of it, last month the administration formed something called the Iran-Syria Operations Group (ISOG) -- a group headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Liz Cheney, the purpose of which is to encourage regime change in Iran. It's no secret that Cheney has over $80 million at her disposal to promote democracy in Iran. But ISOG isn't simply about promoting democracy. It's about helping to craft official policy, doing so not with one but two countries in its sights, and creating a policymaking apparatus that parallels -- and skirts -- Foggy Bottom's suspect Iran desk.""
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