It's Not the Fish Stupid!

The Angler-in-Chief recently took a cue from the Big Dick and played the part of the great American middle-class sportsman. Unfortunately, he shot his own foot instead of a wealthy campaign contributor.

When asked by a German newspaper about his greatest achievement, he reflected, "catchin' a perch in my lake back tah the ranch." I'm not sure if this was just a rare moment of candor or a cynical attempt to connect with the "little people" he claims to represent. My guess is that if the comment didn't turn off Mr. and Mrs. America, the fact that he owns a personal fishin' hole while they can't even afford buy a fish, might have.

Pollsters, start adjusting your numbers downward now. May we suggest, say, 28% approval?

Dub takes these verbal vacations sometimes. Who can forget his answer when asked if he thought he'd made any mistakes during his reign of error? Answering "nothin" - in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary - wasn't very satisfying.

I'm convinced he really believes these "aw shucks" flourishes make him the softer, gentler conservative that he and Bush Diddy claim to be. But faux feelings do not a softer, gentler conservative make. When someone begins to believe their own pernicious PR, they become completely ineffective...at everything. This is a partial answer for his precipitous drop in the polls and the giant mess he's made of things.

Big Daddy fell into this PR pit when he was so famously fascinated with a supermarket scanner. By raving about the technology - technology instantly familiar to his constituents - he looked like a fool. You could argue that looking like a fool comes naturally to everyone carrying the Bush gene, but this was a special kind of foolish. It even surpassed what we expect from the preeminently shrubish political dynasty and that says a lot.

Dub's attempt to harness the Billy Carter vote - minus the cold can of Billy beer because he's a recovering alkie - made him look as out of touch as Dad. I think this is a perfect incident for Dems to run with. Instead of, "It's the economy stupid" the tagline could be, "It's not the fish stupid".

Hmm, it's funny how that "stupid" line works no matter which way you go.

PS: Stop by The Daily KOS and check out our friend Blue Gal's latest post, Can a blogger get a little respect around here?

Truth Told by Omnipotent Poobah, Tuesday, May 09, 2006