*BUSH UP: As Democratic presidential candidates pummel him on television talk shows, and France and Germany pummel his Iraq policy in the United Nations, Bush is winning increasing support where it matters most-from the American people. An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted Feb. 26 to March 2 showed the President's job approval rating at a healthy 62%. That was up from 60% two weeks earlier. In January, it was at 59%. Incidentally, Bush is more popular than war, but only slightly so. The poll showed that 59% favor using military force to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam from power-"even without the support of the UN."
*BLAIR DOWN: Tony Blair, at great political cost, continues to be America's most faithful ally in the cause of disarming Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. A MORI poll done for the Financial Times in the last week of February put Blair's job approval rating at a mere 31%. Perhaps even worse news for Blair is that his approval rating among members of his own Labor Party was only 49%. The poll results were tempered a bit by the standing of the Conservative Party and its leader Iain Duncan Smith. Smith's approval rating was an abysmal 16%.
*ESTRADA STRANDED: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) called for a cloture vote to end debate on the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The vote was 55 to 44, a dismal failure considering that cloture requires 60 votes. All 51 Republicans voted to end debate and move to a vote on the nomination itself. Only four Democrats joined them. They were: Senators John Breaux (La.), Zell Miller (Ga.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.). Sen. Bob Graham of Florida missed the vote because he is still recovering from heart surgery. Although the Republicans called the vote, they clearly knew they would lose before they did. Democrats, meanwhile, played the vote as a victory that sent a signal to the White House that they intend to hang tough against any conservative the President might later nominate to the Supreme Court.
*SPENDING WORRIES: As he told HUMAN EVENTS he would do last week, Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) has introduced a rescission bill to remove some of the pork-barrel provisions inserted into the bloated 2003 omnibus spending bill. Appearing at a press conference with other conservatives, Flake said, "We are here today to let our leadership know that we are serious about Congress' spending problem, and we are committed to getting a handle on this runaway federal spending." Rep. Sue Myrick (R.-N.C.), chairwoman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said her 80-member group would work with Flake to rescind the 2003 spending, while trying to contain spending in 2004.
*WILL HE OR WON'T HE? For a while, the signals had seemed strong that Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels would resign to seek the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana. Daniels, after all, did address several Lincoln Day dinners in the Hoosier State last month-"usually staying until each was over to shake hundreds of hands," according to one source. But, now, Daniels-watchers say they aren't so sure he will run. They believe that Daniels' fierce loyalty to President Bush will keep him onboard at the White House through the coming war-and the coming battles with Congress over budget issues. As to Democrats, who have won the last four straight gubernatorial races in Indiana, the certain nominee in '04 is former Democratic National Chairman Joe Andrew.
*FOUR PERCENT SOLUTION: The U.S. Forest Service has decided not to designate any more of Alaska's massive Tongass National Forest as wilderness, thus clearing the way for logging to proceed in certain parts of the forest. A rider attached to the fiscal 2003 omnibus appropriations bill forbids administrative and judicial appeals of the decision, but environmental groups say they still plan to challenge individual timber sales. "An area twice the size of Maryland is wild land on the Tongass today," said a Forest Service official. "Timber management will continue on 4% of the Tongass National Forest."
*SPEAKING OF FRANCE: The French magazine Elle will release a Centre for Advanced Communication study this week demonstrating that women's liberation in France has led to the emasculation of French men. Thirty years of feminism, says a report on the study by the Bloomberg newswire, has "left [French] masculinity in tatters in an increasingly feminized society." According to a report on Agence France Presse, Elle says, "Masculinity is in crisis... there is no longer a model for building a masculine identity. Man no longer exists."
