Daily Kos: Republicans not buying Rove spin

Daily Kos: Republicans not buying Rove spinRepublicans not buying Rove spin
by kos
Mon Jul 18th, 2005 at 17:18:32 PDT

I know that this has already been blogged, but I want to focus on two key points on that Rove-themed ABC News poll.

First of all:

Should Karl Rove Be Fired If He Leaked Classified Information?
Yes No
All 75% 15%
Republicans 71 17
Independents 74 17
Democrats 83 12

And then this:

Skepticism about the administration's cooperation has jumped. As the initial investigation began in September 2003, nearly half the public, 47 percent, believed the White House was fully cooperating. That fell to 39 percent a few weeks later, and it's lower still, 25 percent, in this new ABC News poll.

This view is highly partisan; barely over a tenth of Democrats and just a quarter of independents think the White House is fully cooperating. That grows to 47 percent of Republicans -- much higher, but still under half in the president's own party. And doubt about the administration's cooperation has grown as much among Republicans -- by 22 points since September 2003 -- as it has among others.

These results mean two things -- first of all, the efforts by the GOP and their allies to muddy the waters and turn this into a partisan issue are failing.

Second, this illustrates a growing disconnect between the GOP elite and the rest of the country. While the party leadership, conservative punditry and wingnutophere place the elephant above the stars and stripes (see last night's rant), it's clear that the vast majority of the Americans still place their country first. And that thankfully goes for the Republican rank and file.

Most people -- Red, Blue, or Independent -- still know the difference between right and wrong, and aren't willing to let partisanship cloud their judgment.