29 percent still believe in Bush - Who are these people?

Make no mistake. The fabled Bush base, even as it shrinks like cellophane on a flame, remains alive and reasonably well.

In a previous post, I predicted that Bush's approval number would hit 25 percent before summer. It was to challenge all those purveyors of conventional wisdom who, at each new low, declare that the president cannot possibly drop any further. We heard it at 50 percent, at 35 percent, and at 32 percent.

Well, he isn't at two bits yet, but Bush's approval number has now dropped into the 20s.

President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to 29%, its lowest mark of his presidency, and down 6% in one month, according to a new Harris poll. And this was before Thursday's revelations about NSA phone surveillance.

Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, down from 35% in April and 43% in January.

Roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say “things in the country are going in the right direction,” while 69% say “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.”

The Bush base, which some pundits insist will never, ever abandon him, appears to be atrophying by the day. However, there remains that stubborn sliver of the American populace that needs, apparently, to be hit over the head with a baseball bat before it is willing to acknowledge with obvious about this failed president. Who comprises this sliver?

People like this guy, right here:

Mark Jellison, a Verizon customer in Quincy, isn't fazed that his phone company may have turned over his calling records and those of millions of others to the National Security Agency as part of an effort to thwart terrorism.

''After 9/11 our world has changed," Jellison said yesterday, standing outside a grocery store in Dorchester. ''Prior to 9/11, I would have been more concerned, but I'm less concerned today."

Added William MacKenzie, a Verizon customer from Taunton: ''I have nothing to hide, so I don't have a problem with it. If it's for the security of the country, it's OK with me."

One by one, segments of Bush's base have abandoned him as they have witnessed his complete inability or unwillingness to manage America's affairs of state. As I wrote previously, the national security paleo-cons were the first to go. Then went the true fiscal conservatives. Then, the religious right's faith in Bush began to crack as they realized he planned to do absolutely nothing about the gays and only slightly more than that about abortion. Most recently, the racist/anti-immigration wing of the movement started drifting back to where they came from.

Now, the only support Bush appears to have left is from the former Reagan Democrats who allowed themselves to be convinced that the GOP supported their economic interests (Eliminate the Death Tax!) and suckers like the two quoted above.

"I ain't got nuthin' ta hide!" Yeah, except that you do. Everybody has something that they don't want someone to know about. Now, you know that the administration and the telecoms are conspiring to compile your communication records into a government database. And, sure, the government says they're not actually listening to your phone calls. But remember, they said before that they were only checking up on Al Qaeda. Why would you believe them? Will they actually have to haul your son, your wife, your daughter off to Guantanamo before you're willing to say, "enough!"

It never fails. Every time you start to think the news about this president cannot get any worse, he surprises you with something like this. This is why Bush is at 29 percent approval. And this is why even nutcases like the two quoted above will eventually bail on him as well. Twenty-five percent? It's coming. Twenty? Lower? Why not?