Cross your Fingers.

Despite the 2.6 million jobs lost during his tenure, Dubya declares his tax cut was the “absolute right course of action” for restoring the economy. I guess we’ll see…expect the Bushies to latch on to every moderately decent economic indicator in the next eighteen months as being directly related to the Dubya tax debacle. By the way, do you get the sense Karl told Dubya to use the phrase “tough decision”?

Fritz Hollering.

“I can tell you this categorically, we’ve got the weakest president and weakest government in the history of my 50 years of public service. I say weak president in that the poor boy campaigns all the time and pays no attention to what’s going on in the Congress. Karl Rove tells him to do this or do that or whatever it is, but he’s out campaigning.” On his way out the door, South Carolina’s Fritz Hollings speaks his mind on Dubya. Hear hear.

The Buck Finally Stops.

In a tortured press conference in which he also came out firmly against gay marriage, Dubya finally admits he’s to blame for the Iraq-Niger claim in the State of the Union (while letting Condoleeza Rice cry “mea culpa” on Newshour.) Why on Earth did it take him so long to state the obvious? As President, he is in fact responsible for his own utterances.

Second Thoughts.

Now this is more like it. After a steady stream of “2004’s in the bag” type-stories, the GOP starts to sweat a little. “‘The economy is touch and go,’ said Dick Taylor, another RNC member from Maryland. ‘I’ve got to believe it recovers really fast. If not, obviously we’ll be in some trouble.’

The Freefall continues.

The president’s approval rating fell to 59%, its lowest level since March…Democrats had a 17-point advantage, 53%-36%, when poll respondents were asked which party would do a better job handling the economy. In January, the GOP had a 43%-42% edge.