Pres. Bush Encourages Free Speech, April Approval Ratings Slip

President George W Bush told Harry Taylor during a World Affairs Council forum in Charlotte, NC, that everyone has the right to speak his/her mind, but the president said he makes no apologies for eavesdropping or protecting people from al Qaeda. The audience applauded President Bush.

Taylor, speaking in a calm voice, said he was ashamed of President Bush and said, "I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."

However, Taylor was alone in thought for this mostly conservative state in the southern United States as he was heckled indoors as he spoke, but on the street outside the forum building about 100 protesters were chanting slogans against White House leadership.

"We may not have been paying attention a few years ago, but we are now. The time has come to take-back our nation and vote for what is right at home not somewhere else." - Maggie Brown a Republican voter from Georgia

President Bush told the forum of less than 1,000, that he values "follow-up" to his words and commitment, especially in the case of Iraq.

"When America speaks, we ought to mean what we said," President Bush said. "I meant what we said when we embraced that resolution that said 'Disclose. Disarm, or face serious consequences.' Words mean something in this world if you're trying to protect the American people."

But are the president's messages working to boost voter confidence during his two-month campaign meant to rally support? Polls indicated new lows for the president's leadership, contrary to what political pundits predicted. Most predicted the president's approval rating to bottom-out around 38-40 percent, and slowly rise into the mid-40s; however, during April 2006 President Bush's approval rating slipped again to a new low of 35 percent.

The Associated Press (AP) along with Ipsos poll between 1,000 and 1,500 registered voters on a weekly basis. Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio told the AP that April's numbers are "scary," but the better news is that Democrats "don't have a plan." Fabrizio was referring to mid-term elections in the United States set for November 2006.

One impeachment measure presented in December 2005 sits on the congressional floor and is unlikely to gain support in a Republican-controlled Congress, and impeachment grassroots funding efforts in the United States have gained little in the way of cash at less than $220,000.

Some 64 percent of voters do not approve of President Bush's job performance in April, and 65 percent of voters disapprove of the way President Bush is handling Iraq.

However there is more to the numbers, because some conservative voters have now changed their minds about the Republican party.

Maggie Brown of Georgia told Think & Ask, "I voted for him [President Bush] both times, but I wish now he hadn't won in 2004. I'm ashamed of him too. He lacks leadership and when all is said and done he caused the world more pain by invading Iraq under false pretenses."

In conservative Orange County, CA, Scott Richards echoed the remarks, but said he had not voted for President Bush in year 2000, "I voted for him in 2004, because I was worried about changing strategy before Iraq was made safe. Now it looks like Iraq will never be safe and we are to blame for that."

The two Republican voters have not decided how to vote in November as of press time, but both appear to lean towards voting in Democrats "only to have better control of [President] Bush," Richards said.

Early polls indicate that Democrats are favored in November 49-33 by AP/Ipsos. Only 30 percent of voters currently approve of the way Congress is handling their job as a body of Republican leadership.

Of greatest concerns to voters questioned by Think & Ask at this time: "Astronomical" national debt, the war in Iraq, public school education funding, and lack of security to borders and ports.

"We may not have been paying attention a few years ago, but we are now," Brown said. "The time has come to take-back our nation and vote for what is right at home not somewhere else."