We may be rubes, but we ain't that stupid

Poll numbers indicate what preznit hisself might say, "fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. It fool me. We can't get fooled again." Here's some soft music for you, from today's Wall Street Journal.

BUSH CONFRONTS persistent skepticism about his leadership.

The president's job approval, now 37% in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, has held below 40% since October 2005. That is the longest sustained period below 40% of any president since Carter in WSJ/NBC and Gallup data.

Just 11% of independents and 29% of Republicans call the Bush administration "very competent," encouraging Democrats to press that argument. "The public is wondering, 'Is this person going to be able to govern?'" says Democratic pollster Peter Hart who conducts the survey with Republican Bill McInturff [yes, that's his name].

Americans can be obtuse, but when a president stands idly by as a major American city is destroyed and the Armed Forces stretched beyond the breaking point due to a war of his choice, and whose stewardship of the economy leads to the debt level raised to the point where we are paying $200 billion a year on interest payments, they're bound to catch on eventually.