Hightower Lowdown

The latest CBS poll has Bush's job-approval rating at 34%, the lowest of his presidency. When the House voted to impeach Bill Clinton in late 1998, a CNN/ USA Today/Gallup poll showed he had a 73% approval rating.

When Americans are asked how they view George personally, his numbers are even more sickly­only 29% register a favorable opinion. One big factor is the war. Two thirds of Americans now say things are going badly in Iraq, and only 29% say Bush's war is worth what it's costing our country. Well, say BushCheney Rumsfeld & Gang, the fickle, namby-pamby public is being misled by the pinko, America-hating media and traitorous Democrats.We don't listen to them.We get our inspiration from the troops on the ground, the fighting folks who really know what's going on over thereand these real Americans are gung-ho, fully committed to our staythe- course war policy.

Horsebeep! The first-ever poll of our soldiers in Iraq, taken by Zogby International in February, reveals that (yet again) the Bushites have been lying to us. A mere 23% of the soldiers say they back Bush's policy. And 72% say that all U.S. troops should be pulled out within a year! More than one in four of them (29%) are so fed up that they say the U.S. should exit Iraq immediately. By the way, 52% of Americans want Congress to consider impeaching Bush for secretly and illegally wiretapping American citizens.

Now that's a bad number.