GOP out in November

The evidence is mounting fast that the Republicans are going to get trounced in November. Bush's buddy in war, Tony Blair just got trounced in Great Britain. Republicans here surely hoped gerrymandering of their districts to concentrate core voter support would save them. That proposition no longer holds out much hope either as increasing numbers of Republicans reject the President's and Congress' performance.

The people of Great Britain are giving Prime Minister Tony Blair the treatment Americans will give Bush in November. Reuter's reports:

Britain's Tony Blair overhauled his government on Friday after one of the worst local election defeats of his premiership in a bid to reassert his authority and signal he has no plans to step down as yet.

The shakeup follows accusations of government sleaze and incompetence on top of the dismal results, which piled pressure on Blair to give his government new impetus or step aside.

ABC News reports:

Just 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest of his presidency. That compares with 36 percent approval in early April. Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives now disapprove of the president.

Just one-fourth of the public approves of the job Congress is doing, a new low in AP-Ipsos polling and down 5 percentage points since last month. A whopping 65 percent of conservatives disapprove of Congress.

A majority of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress (51 percent to 34 percent). That's the largest gap recorded by AP-Ipsos since Bush took office. Even 31 percent of conservatives want Republicans out of power.

While many issues differ between the U.K. and the U.S., the one underlying dissatisfaction both societies share is over the lack of resolution in Iraq. Iraq, underscores and magnifies all other dissatisfactions the two nation's people have with government, generating an anti-incumbent sea change at the polls.

But, the big question is, when the incumbents are out and freshman are in, will the public continue to hold them accountable at the polls, or will the public go back to sleep until the din of corruption, incompetence, and lack of responsible representation raise them from their slumber again? It is obvious after the 2004 elections, that by the time the public awakes, the damage done is already severe. This is not a sound footing upon which politics can shape a freer, more prosperous, and peaceful future. It will take many decades if not the rest of this century for the Americans to climb out from under their ever growing national debt, for example.