Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

A month ago liberal media types were saying there was nothing Bush could say or do to turn attitudes on Iraq, the numbers tell a different story

Donald Lambro:

What a difference a month can make in the political life of a president and this nation.
After nearly a year of precipitous decline in the polls on virtually every issue, President Bush's job approval numbers are turning around on just about everything -- from the war in Iraq to the economy.
The end-of-the-year surge in Mr. Bush's numbers comes at a time when Americans feel much more confident about the economy and the prospects for progress in Iraq, including the likelihood of some phased troop withdrawals early next year.
But these numbers didn't happen by themselves. They are the result of an intense one-month counteroffensive by Mr. Bush to make a stronger, more persuasive case of the rightness of our cause in Iraq and the importance of fighting terrorism on its home base, followed by a successful high-voter-turnout Iraqi election that revealed a far more united country than pessimists predicted.
The sharp and rapid upsurge in Mr. Bush's numbers is astonishing and bears repeating, particularly on Iraq. They show Mr. Bush still has a way to go to push his approval polls back into stronger majority status but on key questions he has overcome his Democratic critics and months of overwhelmingly negative news reports on the war.
For example, last week's Washington Post-ABC News poll found 60 percent of Americans now say the United States is making progress toward restoring security and civil order in Iraq, up from 44 percent last month.
Asked if the United States is making significant progress in establishing a democratic government in Iraq, a hefty 65 percent say we are -- up from 47 percent.
A majority of Americans (52 percent) still do not believe the war in Iraq was worth fighting, but those who think it was shot up from 39 percent last month to 46 percent today.
Mr. Bush's strongest approval number -- his handling of the war against terrorism -- is 56 percent, up from 48 percent.
But the poll says as much about the weakness of Democrats' latest antiwar, pullout-now posture as it does about Mr. Bush's growing strength on his handling of things over there.
For about a month now, Democratic leaders have pushed the idea of setting a timetable for withdrawal -- a position Mr. Bush rejects as defeatism and surrender when the United States is on the brink of establishing a democratic, pro-Western nation in the midst of Middle Eastern terrorist breeding grounds.
But the Dec. 15-18 Post-ABC poll of 1,000 Americans reveals a solid 60 percent majority backs the president on his opposition to setting a date for withdrawal of U.S. forces there.