StudioGlyphic

Oh, nevermind. That wasn't going to work out in any way. Anyway, back on point:

Sullivan's a Bush supporter and editor at the New Republic whose evaluation of Bush's performance on Meet the Press Sunday included choice words and phrases like "out of touch," "irrelevance," "out of his mind," "I don't know what he means," "lying," "damaging," and "catastrophe."

In summary, Sullivan states:

I'm not one of those who believes that a good president has to have the debating skills of a Tony Blair or the rhetorical facility of Bill Clinton. I cannot help liking the president as a person. I still believe he did a great and important thing in liberating Iraq (although we have much, much more to do). But, if this is the level of coherence, grasp of reality, and honesty that is really at work in his understanding of domestic fiscal policy, then we are in even worse trouble than we thought. We have a captain on the fiscal Titanic who thinks he's in the Caribbean.

Harsh words from an avowed Bush supporter. And as Russert pointed out during the interview, critiques from the right have not been uncommon:

But your base conservatives — and listen to Rush Limbaugh, the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, they're all saying you are the biggest spender in American history.

With regards to Sullivan, Kos thinks there might be something else going on:

Of course, Sullivan may simply be upset that Bush has affirmed his support for an anti-gay marriage amendment to the Constitution (an issue important to Sullivan). But whatever the reason, this president is so obviously over his head, that not even his usual apologists can stomach the task any longer.

Could the deficit and the burden of debt being placed on the next generation be an issue on which the Democrats can win? It won't be a unifying issue, but it could serve to suppress votes on the right and encourage votes on the left.