“Approval ratings” do not “supposedly measure how well a person is doing their job”.

“Approval ratings” measure what the poll question asks.

Here is the most recent approval rating poll question from the CBS/NY Times poll, 6/27/07:

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“Is your opinion of Bill Clinton favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven’t you heard enough about Bill Clinton yet to have an opinion?”

See anything about how he does his job in there?

Here’s another approval question, from the USA-Gallup poll 3/25/07:

“Next, we’d like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news.

As I read each name, please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people — or if you have never heard of them.

How about Bill Clinton?”

Does that sound like they are asking about his job?

Dunno, Mike, you have to stop getting your ideas out of the Limbaugh Conservative Institute or Hannity’s “Great Americans” Foundation for the Gullible.

You just keep embarrassing yourself.

I remember Ronald Reagan for Iran-Contra, the pulling away of Government as a partner in the development and growth of big-city America, for reckless borrow-and-spend and tax cuts for the rich with no regard for deficits or futures, for the worship of the defense and military industries and for the handing over of the keys to the Treasury to the global corporations.

Not to mention he spent the last couple years of his “Presidency” wandering around in his pajamas in the throes of dementia and Alzheimer’s while Nancy Reagan called in the official White House Astrologer to help her make the day’s policy decisions.

Oh, how people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, daddy Bush, and Weinberger loved that period.

We have STILL not paid off the mountain of debt we incurred under his leadership, and we are STILL paying for the ruinous foreign and domestic policies he set in place in places like Afghanistan and Lebanon.

He was a disaster that happened to America, much like Katrina to New Orleans.

The numbers say otherwise. He is still popular among the people. In fact, as the years pass, his character flaws are being forgiven and forgotten while his track record as president is being remember more fondly.

“That’s not visceral hatred,”

There is visceral hatred toward Bush. PEW’s numbers show the number one word to describe Bush is “incompetent” and “idiot” and “liar” are third and fourth.

“In short, the only president with “extreme popularity” within my lifetime has been Ronald Reagan.”

And a lot of people hate Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan as been deified by some conservatives, but his popularity when he left office was not that strong. It we weaker than when he came to power.

Of course I am biased toward my own opinion, but I think that a vast number of Americans see Bill Clinton as I do: a man with enormous charisma and political talent who earned a respectable record as President (along with making a few big mistakes), but also a man with corrupt moral character whose personal behavior reflected extreme selfishness and disregard for others.

That’s not visceral hatred, just an exasperation with the fact that attempts to hold him accountable for such behavior generally fell flat. I would say that the reason most people dislike a particular politician has something to do with accountability.

In short, the only president with “extreme popularity” within my lifetime has been Ronald Reagan.

The answer to that is yes. Bill Clinton is amazingly popular among the majority of the population.

“I’d also say that the number of people who viscerally hate George Bush is about equivalent to the number of people who viscerally hate Bill Clinton,”

Not even close. Bush’s popularity right now is between 26% and 30%. Bill Clinton had a 65% approval rating when he left office, and that’ hasn’t gone down since then.

“(The only difference is that the Bush Derangement Crowd has a high population density among the keepers of our culture — newspapers, movies, music, and so on — but these people only get one vote apiece and they are not a significant percentage of America’s total population.)”

You keep telling yourself that, eventually you might actually believe that lie.

And by the way, do you know what the main cause of BDS is? Paying attention.

Dunno if you remember at all, but Bill Clinton’s approval ratings were in the 60′s DURING the impeachment farce in the Congress. And they’ve stayed pretty far above 50% since.

He is by far the most admired, most popular living political figure in America.

I know, I know:

“We here in the GOP and the Bush Administration have come to rescue America from its living nightmare of Peace, Tolerance, and Prosperity.”

“After Bill Clinton tarnished the name of the president of the United States, the Republican Party restored hope, respect and morality within the Oval Office by bringing positive ideas and conservative values back to the White House,” the Iowa Republican Party said in an e-mail sent to reporters.

You also have to consider whether a majority of Americans wants a third Bill Clinton administration. And based on the fact that new presidential administrations tend to appoint advisers and nominees from the same pool of people who served in that party’s previous administration, a third Bill Clinton presidency is precisely what we will get if we elect Mrs. Bill Clinton.

If she wins the nomination, you can be sure that Republicans will remind us of this fact on a daily basis.

I’d also say that the number of people who viscerally hate George Bush is about equivalent to the number of people who viscerally hate Bill Clinton, so I don’t see any real advantage there. (The only difference is that the Bush Derangement Crowd has a high population density among the keepers of our culture — newspapers, movies, music, and so on — but these people only get one vote apiece and they are not a significant percentage of America’s total population.)

He’s that rare Dem politician that enjoys respect and admiration from all the wings of the Party, he has an impressive rolodex and favors owed he can call on, he’s going to get out the voters and that is going to count a lot in both the Primaries and the General.

Hell, I bet half the GOP wishes he were still in power.

They would be secure and basking in the immense profits of Clinton-bashing instead of having to constantly defend the indefensible Bush-Cheney.