By Tamara Baker

 Tuesday. May 29, 2001 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA (APJP) -- Gee, I haven't seen
 Shrubbie's poll results on the evening news lately. I wonder why?

 Used to be that when Clinton was in office, every new day would have a new poll, or
 so it seemed. The slightest slippage in Clinton's numbers would be hailed as proof
 that America was finally starting to turn on him, and his gains were generally ignored.

 But with a Republican in illegal occupation of the White House, the mainstream
 corporate press' fondness for polls (said fondness for which, in a class case of
 projection, they tried to pin on Clinton) has suddenly cooled. I haven't heard much at
 all on network TV about Bush's numbers over the past two months.

 This is very interesting, because the latest CNN poll shows that things aren't exactly
 as rosy as they could be for the Commander-in-Thief.

 His job approval rating still hovers a touch over 50%, but his disapproval ratings
 have shot up from 24% in February to 38% in May. This is in line with the other
 legitimate major polls such as Gallup, which all show his negative numbers well over
 the 30-percent mark -- and growing. This is despite the corporate press' 24/7 efforts
 to spin everything to his satisfaction. As things stand now, even with the corporate
 media backing him to the hilt in exchange for relaxed FCC anti-trust regulations,
 fewer than half of all Americans would themselves trust him -- and fewer than half
 would vote for him.

 Again, I have to emphasize: This is all happening despite the refusal of the corporate
 broadcast media to emphasize -- or even mention in passing -- certain important truths.

 Truths such as:

      the fact that only the deregged parts of California are suffering from both high
      energy prices and blackouts

      if California's economy is allowed to tank due to price-gouging by Bush's
      energy-industry buddies, the rest of the US will follow suit

      the Bush regime just gave $43 million and a pat on the back to the Taliban
      regime in Afghanistan even as the Taliban prepares to implement their own
      version of the Holocaust on Afghanistan's Hindu population

      gasoline supplies in California are plentiful, so plentiful that they're running out
      of places to store it, so plentiful that even conservative locales like Orange County
      are calling into question what look to be artificially-high pump prices in the Golden State.

 Even with truths like these being hidden or downplayed, Americans are slowly
 beginning to get the picture. And as they do, it will become obvious to everyone that
 Shrubbie and his minders have holed their own junta below the waterline.