If It Quacks Like a Lame Duck ...

American “media personalities” (the Chris Matthewses of the world, as opposed to actual new reporters) are prone to portray George W. Bush as someone able to overcome pervasive political woes and widespread scandals, and still pull one over on his Democratic opponents on Capitol Hill. But as the Associated Press points out today, the prez’s power to influence has actually fallen to historic lows:

President Bush’s success rating in the Democratic-controlled House has fallen this year to a half-century low, and he prevailed on only 14 percent of the 76 roll call votes on which he took a clear position.

The previous low for any president was in 1995, when Bill Clinton won just 26 percent of the time during the first year after Republicans took control of the House. If Bush’s score holds through the end of the year, he will have the lowest success rating in either chamber for any president since Congressional Quarterly began analyzing votes in 1953.

A study of House and Senate floor votes, compiled by CQ over the August recess, also showed that House Democrats have backed Bush’s legislative positions this year only 6 percent of the time, making for the strongest opposition from either party against a president in the 54 years CQ has kept score.

You’ll find the whole story here.

READ MORE: “How Bush Betrays Reagan,” by Gary Kamiya (Salon).