60% of Americans are Liberal?

Have you seen the poll showing that 60% of the public is now liberal?  You haven't?  Of course you haven't.  The latest data show that less than a quarter of the public actually refers to themselves as “liberal.” I bring this up because both Cobb and I are quite frustrated by the facile reasoning of students that equates negative comments towards Bush with liberal bias.  I do think Bush is a bad president, but it is not because I'm a liberal, but because reality shows this to be the case.  (Look no further than State of Denial).  If criticizing Bush made you a liberal, then 60% of the public would be liberal and so would a good 25% or so of Republicans. 

In all fairness, it's not just students.  The now-disgraced former head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, undertook a study to show the “liberal bias” in PBS where anybody who criticized the president, including conservative Republican stalwarts like Sen. Chuck Hagel and ex-Rep. Bob Barr were counted as liberal.

Bush, the “united not a divider” has succeeded in uniting liberals and conservatives who actually have their eyes open in opposition to his administration.