Thursday, May 21, 2009

Cheney's Poll Numbers are on the rise, Americans want Obama to 'man up' and to 'stop blaming Bush'

From CNN's Political Ticker:
The same day Dick Cheney delivered a major speech on the battle against terrorism, a new national poll suggests that favorable opinions of the former vice president are on the rise...[Cheney's numbers are up eight points] from January when he left office.

In the past two months the former vice president has become a frequent critic of the new Administration in numerous national media interviews.
But of course, CNN couldn't stomach all of that, so they added this spin:
“Is Cheney’s uptick due to his visibility as one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration? Almost certainly not,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Former President George W. Bush's favorable rating rose six points in that same time period, and Bush has not given a single public speech since he left office.”
Well, if being an outspoken critic of the administration isn't what lifted up Cheney's poll numbers, might it be that Americans simply don't trust Obama on Gitmo and other security issues, and that's why Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush's poll numbers are on the rise?

It might... And, if that is indeed the case, it stands to reason that Cheney's criticism of Obama is helping Americans understand just how perilous Obama's positions are - on Gitmo etc.

On the flip side, Obama's criticism of both Cheney and Bush appears to be having the opposite effect.

According to a recent survey conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corp., "more than 3-to-1 Americans think it is time for the Obama administration to start taking responsibility (64 percent) instead of continuing to blame the Bush administration for mistakes (21 percent)."

Ah yes, "responsibility", but it's much easier to "Blame Bush", isn't it?.......

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