Lower and lower

33 and counting ...

Deep doubts about the Iraq war and pessimism about America's future have shattered public confidence in President George W. Bush and helped drive his approval ratings to their lowest level ever, pollsters say.

As Bush launched a series of speeches to drum up support for the war, a new round of opinion polls found growing skepticism about Iraq and distrust of Bush. His image declined sharply, with one poll finding "incompetent" to be the most frequent description of his leadership.

Bush's approval rating dipped as low as 33 percent in one recent poll (link) after a string of bad news for the White House, including uproars over a now-dead Arab port deal, a secret eavesdropping program, a series of ethics scandals involving high-profile Republicans and a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.

The political storm has left Bush's second-term legislative agenda in tatters, threatened Republican control of the U.S. Congress in November's elections and shredded his personal image as an effective leader.

"His strong points as a president were being seen as personally credible, as a strong leader. That has all but disappeared," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, whose latest independent poll found a dramatic decline in Bush's credibility.

A majority of Americans, 56 percent, believe Bush is "out of touch," the poll found. When asked for a one-word description of Bush, the most frequent response was "incompetent," followed by "good," "idiot" and "liar." In February 2005, the most frequent reply was "honest."

The anvil chained to an anchor that is the Bush approval rating looks to be on a collision course with the most disgraced -- but no longer the worst -- president in American history, Richard Nixon. Let's check the approval -rating standings:

Nixon: 27 percent (November 1973).
Bush II: 33 percent.

Can he do it? Can Bush actually drive his approval rating below that of Richard Nixon? With the launching of the largest air assault in Iraq since the invasion sure to win hearts and minds both here and there, Bush's reaffirmation of his strike-first (before developing an exit strategy, apparently) policy, New Orleans hospitals in crisis mode nearly seven months after Katrina and the new $9 trillion debt limit approved by Congress, it looks like a sure thing.