W has only a 40% failure rating?

Covert History directs our attention to this poll, which rates all American presidents since FDR. According to the pollsters, 31% of our fellow citizens consider Dubya "great," 28% think of him as "average," while 40% -- only 40% -- consider him a failure.

One wonders what -- if anything -- could chip into that 31%. Perhaps the publication of "A Cheerleader Named George" by Victor Ashe?

What the hell does this guy has to do to garner a higher failure rating? He has run up massive and unrepayable debts to Saudi Arabia and Communist China, lied the country into war, supported Israel's lapse into total insanity, overseen soaring gas prices, allowed the death of a major American city, destroyed our image internationally, refused to safeguard our ports and borders, fostered a culture of corruption and kickbacks, and -- well, you know the rest.

Moreover, the guy's a clown. Every time he opens his mouth he sounds like a 'shroomed-up Mrs. Malaprop with a cowboy twang. In most recent photos he looks like a rubber-faced vaudevillian whose suspenders have just snapped. Our predicament is more humiliating than a mere rape: We're being raped by Bozo.

The good news: Only Nixon has a higher failure rating -- 47%. The rest of the standings are unsurprising, although Reagan (who initiated the economics of high debt) has far too high a ranking, as does Poppy Bush. Personally, I would place both Bushes well below Nixon. At least Nixon was bright.