Poll watch
President Bush's Republican allies have told Democrats repeatedly to forget about Florida and its messy presidential recounts. Right after the U.S. Civil Rights Commission released its draft report about election irregularities in that state, a Fox News poll shows that the American people are not over the Sunshine State's electoral tangle, and that a majority of them are still mad.
The survey, taken June 6 to 7, shows that 58 percent of the public gets angry when they are "thinking of how ... votes were counted" in Florida's 2000 presidential contest, while 28 percent say that they are "satisfied." Predictably, negative feelings were strongest among Democrats, with just 18 percent reporting satisfaction and 81 percent still angry. That compares with 36 percent of Republicans who are mad and 49 percent who are satisfied. Political independents were right in the middle of the road; the recount left 58 percent angry and 20 percent satisfied.
The poll has a three point margin of error.
Bush job approval
Steady at 59 percent, May 9 to 10
Down from 63 percent, April 19 to 22
Down from 55 percent, March 21 to 22
Down from 56 percent, April 18 to 22
Steady at 56 percent, May 10 to 14
Up from 56 percent, April 23 to 25
Down from 57 percent, May 3 to 4
-- Alicia Montgomery
Daily line
"The president wants responsible action on global climate change, and he is ready to take responsible action."
-- Andrew Card, White House chief of staff, speaking on "Fox News Sunday"
Bush buzz
It's not easy being green, especially if you're President Bush. But the administration is rolling out plans to renew study of global warming on the eve of his first foreign trip.
Though the president has always been a global-warming skeptic, he's recently had to revise the more dismissive elements of his greenhouse effect statements in the wake of a study by the National Academy of Sciences confirming the reality of the phenomenon. The announcement arrives just in time to try to placate America's European allies, who will have a chance to explain their objections to Bush's environmental and defense policies in person this week as the president travels to the continent.
The journey, which begins Tuesday in Spain, has renewed concerns about Bush's lack of foreign policy experience and expertise. In preparation for the trip, Bush has been tutored by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who guided Bush's foreign policy education during the campaign.
But the president may borrow strategies from domestic battles in dealing with European allies. Bush reportedly will try to handle allies' objections to his environmental and defense policies in the same manner that he dealt with Democratic concerns about his tax cut: He'll listen intensively to other points of view, then disregard them all and press ahead with his own plan, unchanged.
But that might not work this time. Many European nations have already pegged the president as a highhanded bungler, and Bush should be prepared to be greeted by massive protests at several stops this week. In Spain, demonstrators got an early start, with several thousand marching through Madrid on Sunday chanting anti-Bush slogans.
And don't miss the Bush twins spending another weekend of quality time with their parents. After entering their pleas to charges of underage drinking -- Jenna pleaded innocent, Barbara pleaded no contest -- the first daughters hung out with the president and the first lady at the family ranch in Crawford, Texas.
The latest round of Bush family bonding happened just as the latest edition of People magazine, with a story about the twins' "Double Trouble" on the cover, hit newsstands. The article details the well-publicized brushes Jenna has had with the law as well as some of Barbara's lesser-known exploits. President Bush and his wife are reportedly hopping mad that the story is running at all.
Monday schedule: The president meets with Singapore's prime minister in the morning. Later, he delivers remarks about global warming from the White House Rose Garden. In the evening, Bush departs for Madrid to kick off his first foreign trip.
-- A.M.
This day in Bush history
June 11, 1998: The Texas Republican Convention opened with Gov. George W. Bush getting an indirect challenge from those on his ideological right. With a steady undercurrent of speculation about Bush's plans to run for the White House, his state party voted not to allow the 2000 GOP presidential nominee to choose his own delegates. It also approved a measure that would prohibit party donations and financial support from going to a candidate who did not support outlawing late-term abortions. Though Bush favored a ban on late-term abortions, he consistently argued against having a litmus test tied to party funding.
Burning Bush
Links to the Web's best sites for hardcore Bush watchers.
Send questions, comments and tips to bushed@salon.com.
Bushed! contributors: Eric Boehlert, Karen Croft, Gary Kamiya, Kerry Lauerman, Daryl Lindsey, Alicia Montgomery, Fiona Morgan, Scott Rosenberg, Jake Tapper, Joan Walsh, Anthony York
Take a look at the previous edition of Bushed!
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