And, another thing!

Bush's sinking political fortunes as measured by the Pew poll reminded me of a quote from Donna Brazile's piece in Roll Call. She wrote that senate Democrats should come out loud and hard in favor of Russ Feingold's censure resolution. It was an urgent call to arms.

As a Beltway insider, I am convinced that we cannot continue to tell those who have loyally supported our Democratic leaders to wait. Wait for what? Wait until our pollsters give us the green light to speak up?

In light of the Gallup poll measuring Bush's approval rating at 36 percent, the CBS poll measuring his support at 34 percent and the Pew poll measuring it at 33 percent, you have to wonder just how low Bush would have to drop before Democrats might summon the nerve to take him on. Would they be able to locate some courage if he hit 25 percent? Eighteen percent? Lower?

Republicans declared Bill Clinton's presidency illegitimate from day one and they never stopped saying it. They attacked him 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and twice on Sundays. They attacked him in the rain, in the snow and coming through the rye. They ridiculed him while American troops were in harm's way in Kosovo. They insulted his wife and his teenaged daughter. They made fun of his mother. They called him a a draft-dodger, a drug-dealer, a rapist and a murderer. His attackers included talk-show hosts, members of congress, state governors and men of the cloth. A United States senator even implied that if Clinton visited that senator's home state, he might get shot.

All of this served to rally the base by keeping blood in the water. There was always something to get the folks at home riled up, almost all of it completely false.

In the case of George W. Bush, we have a president who wasn't even elected in the first damn place! Prior to 9/11, Bush ignored warnings that terrorists were planning to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings. He invaded a country that had never attacked the United States and had no ability to do so. He lied about the reasons for going to war. He presided over the destruction of New Orleans without doing a thing to mitigate the damage and loss of life. He turned a projected record budget surplus into deficits as far as the eye can see. He protected a cabal of evil men who leaked the classified identity of an American undercover agent to the press.

He began a program of illegally spying on American citizens. When he was caught doing it, he admitted that he broke the law.

Russell Feingold stood up on the floor of the senate and called for the censure of this admitted criminal. Crickets could be heard chirping on the Democratic side of the chamber.

More than five years into the cosmic disaster that is the presidency of George W. Bush, while even his most reflexive, frothing-at-the-mouth supporters are beginning to express doubts about him, Democratic politicians have nothing to say. Over the past year, Bush's support from his base has declined by double-digits. His overall approval numbers are in the thirties. The thirties. In the latest Pew poll, the one word used most frequently to describe Bush is "incompetent." The second most frequently used word is "idiot." The third? "Liar."

If Democrats are waiting for some other signal that it is okay to begin standing up to George W. Bush, I cannot begin to imagine what that signal would look like. The light is as green as it is going to get.