Holy Shit!

Given how weak Obama's been looking as of late -- particularly during the Republican-manufactured Debt Ceiling "Crisis," where he pretty much gave the GOP and its Tea-Bagging Masters everything they wanted -- I figured he was going to get his ass kicked in the post-debt ceiling polls. After all, John Boehner openly bragged that he got 98% of what he wanted in the Debt Ceiling Deal. So imagine my surprise when I read the result of the most recent Gallup poll:

According to the monthly survey, which was conducted from August 4 -7, Obama would win 45-39 against "the Republican party's candidate." The previous two polls from Gallup had the generic GOPer running strong with a 47-39 lead in July and 44-39 lead in June.

This flip in the polling made no sense to me, particularly given all the spin being put out by the GOP presidential candidates that the Debt Ceiling Debacle was all Obama's fault (and Obama's apparent unwillingness to aggressively counter-attack on this issue). Then I read the results from this CNN poll:

Fifty-nine percent say they have an unfavorable view of the Republican party, an all-time high dating back to 1992 when the question was first asked. The poll indicates that views of the Democratic party, by contrast, have remained fairly steady, with 47 percent saying they have a favorable view of the Democrats and an equal amount saying they hold an unfavorable view.

"The Democratic party, which had a favorable rating just a couple of points higher than the GOP in July, now has a 14-point advantage over the Republican party," adds Holland.

The same pattern holds for the parties' leaders in Congress. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the chamber, have never had great numbers, but the public's view of them have remained essentially unchanged in the wake of the debt ceiling debate. But House Speaker John Boehner's favorable rating has dropped 10 points, and his unfavorable rating is up to 40 percent, a new high for him. On the Senate side, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell isn't faring much better - his unfavorable rating is 39 percent, a seven-point increase since July.

The same CNN poll also indicated that views of the Tea Baggers "have also turned more negative, with 51 percent saying they have a negative view of the two-year-old limited government and anti-tax grassroots movement, with favorable ratings dropping from 37 percent down to 31 percent."

All these poll results tell me that the American People were actually paying attention to the Debt Ceiling Debate and were able to see through all the GOP/Tea-Bagger bullshittery. It also tells me that the GOP learned a tough lesson from this, namely, don't try to re-write history when (1) the history just happened within the last few weeks, and (2) lots of people where actually watching the history unfold.

But in any event, Obama and the Democrats really need to exploit this while the Debt Deal Fiasco is still clear in peoples' minds. They need to aggressively attack the Republicans for once again bringing this country's economy to the brink. When a political party fucks up as bad as the GOP did on this issue, it is important to strike while the iron is hot and do so before FoxNews and the Republicans can re-write the history of what just happened.