41 and 43 = 31

Nobody knows you when you're down and out.

Americans have a bleaker view of the country's direction than at any time in more than two decades, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Sharp disapproval of President Bush's handling of gasoline prices has combined with intensified unhappiness about Iraq to create a grim political environment for the White House and Congressional Republicans.

Mr. Bush's approval ratings for his management of foreign policy, Iraq and the economy have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency. He drew poor marks on the issues that have been at the top of the national agenda in recent months, in particular immigration and gasoline prices.

Just 13 percent approved of Mr. Bush's handling of rising gasoline prices. About a quarter said they approved of his handling of immigration, as Congressional Republicans try to come up with a compromise for handling the influx of illegal immigrants into the country.

The poll showed a further decline in support for the Iraq war, the issue that has most eaten into Mr. Bush's public support. The percentage of respondents who said going to war in Iraq was the correct decision slipped to a new low of 39 percent, down from 47 percent in January. Two-thirds said they had little or no confidence that Mr. Bush could successfully end the war.

The poll comes six months before Election Day and well before Labor Day, when Congressional campaigns will be fully engaged. Mr. Bush has shaken up his staff in an effort to improve his political fortunes, and White House aides said they were confident that events in Iraq were improving and that the political effects of high gasoline prices could fade by the election.

Nevertheless, the Times/CBS News poll contained few if any bright notes for Mr. Bush or Congress.

Mr. Bush's political strength continues to dissipate. About two-thirds of poll respondents said he did not share their priorities, up from just over half right before his re-election in 2004. About two-thirds said the country was in worse shape than it was when he became president six years ago. Forty-two percent of respondents said they considered Mr. Bush a strong leader, a drop of 11 points since January.

Mr. Bush's overall job approval rating hit another new low, 31 percent, tying the low point of his father in July 1992, four months before the elder Mr. Bush lost his bid for a second term to Bill Clinton. That is the third lowest approval rating of any president in 50 years; only Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter were viewed less favorably.

I'm trying to picture the folks making up the other one-third who think the country isn't in worse shape than six years ago. Hmmm.

Maureen Dowd isn't quoted here often, as her snark is sometimes as well-aimed as a Dick Cheney shotgun blast, but today she's damned eloquent (sorry, Time$elect).

On the issues that earned Karl Rove his nickname, Boy Genius — values and national security — the shift was notable. Fifty percent of respondents said Democrats came closer to sharing their moral values, compared with 37 percent who said Republicans did. And the G.O.P. retains a tenuous advantage on being seen as stronger on terrorism. The numbers for those who think we did the right thing by invading Iraq are steadily dropping, and the numbers are rising for those who believe we should have stayed out.

Many Americans have simply lost faith in the administration's ingenuity. Only a quarter of those polled had much confidence in W.'s ability to handle a crisis; a mere 9 percent are sure he can successfully end the Iraq war, and a paltry 4 percent think the administration has a clear plan to keep gas prices down. (But can triumphalist Nancy Pelosi lift their spirits?)

The Bush presidency has devolved into an assertion of empty will.

In the ad business there's an old saying that there's nothing worse for a bad product than good advertising. The cynical Republican party did an outstanding job of selling this callow idiot to the American people, then followed that up with a brilliant campaign selling complete fidelity and loyalty to an administration of incompetents, in which loyalty was more important than ability, ideology more important than ideas. Good advertising. But after six years, the buyers have found the product's defective. Why it took so long, I'll never know. I guess the poor people of New Orleans had to take one for the team, finally awakening the loyalists from their hallucinations of the Great Man's leadership, the invulnerable strength of the Republican wise fathers.

The irony of course is the final straw: the man who successfully hid his failures in the oil business, propped up at every turn by his daddy's pals in the business, is now being undone by that business.

Further irony, he's getting lectures on religion from a figure even more messianic than he is.

One more thing...the Democratic party takes a lot of hits -- many of them deserved -- over not standing for anything in voters' minds. But when Republicans start demanding price controls on oil, what the hell do Republicans stand for anymore?