Poll: Powell Viewed Favorably By Republicans -- And So Are Cheney And Limbaugh
A new CNN poll finds that Colin Powell has much higher national favorable ratings than his two main Republican antagonists, Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh -- but among Republican respondents only, it's a close one.
The numbers, among all Americans: Powell is viewed favorably by 70%, compared to only 37% for Cheney and 30% for Limbaugh.
But among Republicans only, it's 66% favorable for Cheney, 64% for Powell, and 62% for Limbaugh. So Powell still remains popular with Republicans. But so are Cheney and Limbaugh, too -- and it would make some intuitive sense that Powell's portion differs somewhat from Cheney's and Limbaugh's.
Said CNN analyst Bill Schneider: "Moderate Republicans fighting back against Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. They're ready to rumble. And they've got a soldier to lead them."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
I came into this thread ready to rail against Republicans for being fucking morons, but... 70% of AMERICANS have a favorable opinion of Powell? "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
May 25, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why wasn't Hitler included in the study?
May 25, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't speak for the all Americans portion of the survey, but as far as the percentages of Republicans with a high opinion of Messrs Powell, Cheney, and Limbaugh go, here is my thought. The party called Republican has been sanitized over the past 30 years effectively removing moderate Republicans such as existed in the northeast. These are the ones who would be fiscally conservative, yet socially tolerant. Of course what remains would think highly of the likes of Cheney and Limbaugh. How else could these people think?
May 25, 2009 11:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, and I don't believe this Schneider business either:
'Said CNN analyst Bill Schneider: "Moderate Republicans fighting back against Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. They're ready to rumble. And they've got a soldier to lead them."'
Powell isn't going to much lead them, and they're not really ready to rumble anyway. Few as they are, a lot of them like Cheney pretty well and are no worse than ambivalent as to Limbuaugh.
May 26, 2009 3:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric--
This is, in my opinion, the single most important and revealing article about Dick Cheney ever written. (As it happens, it was written by a good friend of mine from college.)
You simply must read this article. I can't imagine why everybody seems to have missed it when Slate first put it out.
Elizabeth Cheney, Bush Legal Counsel
What a 1988 college thesis by the former vice president's daughter tells us about the Bush presidency.
http://www.slate.com/id/2210084/
A sampling from the article:
"In 1988, while Dick Cheney was Wyoming's sole representative in the House of Representatives, his daughter's senior thesis was quietly published in Colorado Springs. The 125-page treatise argued that, constitutionally and historically, presidents have virtually unchecked powers in war. Thirteen years before her father became vice president, she had symbolically authored the first legal memorandum of the Bush administration, laying out the same arguments that would eventually justify Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition, wiretapping of American citizens, and, broadly, the unitary theory of the executive that shaped the Bush presidency."
All his claims to the contrary, Cheney's worldview did not come into existence in the aftermath of 9/11. No, his grand theory of government was all in place before that horrifying moment, and he was just waiting for an opportunity to put his ideas into effect.
One can only imagine what breakfast-table conversations in the Cheney household must have sounded like. Liz Cheney never had a chance, did she?
May 26, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink