THIS IS IMPRESSIVE It is official. George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern history, or at least since we've been taking approval polls. A whopping 71 percent of Americans think Bush sucks. Just 71 percent? "No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup Poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director. Some perspective: During the Watergate scandal, Nixon's disapproval rating topped off at 66 percent. [CNN]

Thandie Newton is in final talks to play Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic, W. Odd choice for Condi, but the entire movie is an odd choice, if you ask me. Who's a better choice? I can see Angela Bassett rocking that hairdo like a pro. [EUR]

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned today after several members of Congress criticized him for not addressing allegations of impropriety and ethics violations. So far, no possible replacements for Jackson, one of George Bush's many inept cronies from the Lone Star State, have been floated around.

Rumor has it that Jackson has privately been talking about resigning since late last year, because he was tired of all of the ethics investigations, one of which concerned how a golfing buddy of his landed a big time federal contract. Ethics violation? To me, that just sounds like he was following the Bush administration rule book. [CNN]

It's bad enough to see a headline, on the day after the American death toll in Iraq reaches the 4,000 mark, that reads: Bush Says War's Outcome Will "Merit the Sacrifice," which honestly might have thrown me into a homicidal rage if one of my loved ones were one of those 4,000 dead soldiers. But it's even worse when that headline shares the front page of the Washington Post with a photo of our president standing next to a huge, bespectacled Easter bunny looking like the idiot he is. [HP]

Using the images of the 4,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq, Nico Pitney of the Huffington Post today drops a not-so-subtle attack on John McCain's campaign vis-à-vis the war. For the large image, go here.

This George W. Bush-themed spoof of Will.i.am's Barack Obama videos is scarier than the John McCain spoof, but mainly because we actually elected this man. Twice.

I hate to break it to Kanye West, and to you if you subscribe to that firebrand's most famous piece of rhetoric, but George Bush cares about black people.

You wouldn't know it from his demeanor, his famous Yalie smirk and country swagger forever leading you to believe he's about two beers away from calling Colin Powell "boy." Certainly his lax, almost uninterested response to Hurricane Katrina did nothing for his pro-black image ("Brownie, you're doing a helluva job"). And, indeed, some of the man's stances on policy – like his stern opposition to the hate crimes bill – at best reek of ignorance, and at worst of bigotry. Yet despite all that, I can't, in good faith, condemn Dubya as a person who cares not for black people.

Bad President? Definitely. Oblivious? Absolutely. Unfeeling racist out to rid the world of blacks? No way. And the reason I'm certain of this begins and ends with Africa.

CONTINUED »

George Bush decided to be more introspective than usual yesterday during an Oval Office interview with American Urban Radio Networks. When asked about his relationship with blacks during his tenure as president, he actually admitted that it was probably his fault that black people don't like him very much. But if you know it's your fault and you don't really do anything about it, what does that say?

“I guess people get images in their mind in the political world where they just don’t get to know a person’s heart. I’m sure it’s my fault that I wasn’t able to go into some African-American communities and share my heart,” Bush said.

“Secondly, I am a Republican and there is a suspicion of being a Republican. You hear, ‘Aw, Bush is a Republican. He doesn’t care about us.’ And I understand that. And our party has to do a better job of making sure our policies are viewed as hopeful policies. I guess that’s the reason why,” he said.

“I was disappointed, of course,” Bush said of his inability to curry favor among blacks. “When I was governor of Texas they got to know me pretty well down there and I got a pretty sizable African-American vote, which I was proud of. When I ran for president I got whomped pretty significantly in the African-American community and I was disappointed, truly disappointed.”

He was so disappointed that he made sure to avoid appearing before the NAACP for most of his presidency.

Also, way to be careful not to mention Hurricane Katrina! Or that war that all of those young people, many of them blacks, are dying in. Because that would be just a little too honest. [AAS]

• Buckle your seatbelts, middle class. You don't want to fall out. [BW]

• Those of you in the Dallas-Fort Worth area looking to patronize some black businesses now have a great resource. [DMN]

• The Brit Awards were short on blacks this year. I guess you only care about that if you know what The Brits are. [VO]

• More on the Bush-Africa love affair. [AA]

…pictures of G.W. and Laura Bush in Africa are inexplicably funny. Is it just me, or is the man happier than he's looked in years?

The big G.W. is on a six-day African tour, during which he'll visit a number of countries, including Benin, Liberia, and Ghana. Edward Ball from The Root writes that now is as good of a time as any for Bush to speak about slavery, particularly given his personal history with America's "peculiar institution." Plus, you know, Black History Month and all.

A new book by Jacob Weisberg, The Bush Tragedy, mentions in passing that at one time some of the president's family owned slaves. Weisberg doesn't dwell on the links between the White House and the antebellum past except to say the Bush clan's story is a long-held "family secret…"

The skeletal facts surfaced in April 2007, when an amateur historian named Robert Hughes published his research in the IllinoisTimes, a small paper out of Springfield. Hughes found census records showing that during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, in Cecil County, Maryland, five households of the Walker family, the president's ancestors via his father's mother, Dorothy Walker Bush, had been slaveholding farmers. The evidence is simple but persuasive: genealogies of the Bush family match up with census data that counted farmers who used enslaved workers. With this, the president joins perhaps fifteen million living white Americans who trace their roots to the long-gone master class.

Bush has to talk about slavery now? I feel like it already took so much for him to mention that it's not nice to hang nooses.

According to a new book called The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse, in which the author examines what he perceives as a rise in accusations of bigotry despite a decrease in actual bigots, George W. Bush's racism was not to blame for the Hurricane Katrina aftermath — it was the age-old institutionalized racism in the American South and after-effects from segregation, coupled with G.W. Bush's lack of interest in poor people of all races that caused the catastrophic turn of events that turned a natural disaster into an international controversy in 2005. What do you think?

• This guy's foot takes one for the team.

• Don't worry, be happy. And avoid heart attacks.

• Racism in medical treatment rears its ugly head again.

• New embryonic stem cell research for G.W. to reject!

• This pastor is sick and tired of members of his congregation dying before their time.

Naomi Campbell, the newly-anointed world politics expert at British GQ, really got down to the nitty gritty with Hugo Chavez during their heavily-publicized Q&A last October.

Asked by Campbell to name the best-dressed world leader, the socialist president, who is a firm friend of Mr Castro, exclaimed: "Fidel, of course! His uniform is impeccable. His boots are polished, his beard is elegant…"

It also appears that Mr Chavez was able to get a few questions of his own in during the interview and was keen to find out about Britain's monarchy, asking Campbell: "Do you know Prince Charles?" When the supermodel replied that she had met him and had also known Diana, Princess of Wales, Mr Chavez declared: "I like the Prince. Now he has Camilla, his new girl. She's not attractive is she?"

In addition to Chavez's Camilla quip, he called Bush crazy during the interview. So he got at least two things right.

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. I woke up this morning thinking I would write a few words for the readers out there who observe this African American holiday, but then I realized George W. Bush could say it so much better. And Kanye thought he didn't care about black people!

I send greetings to those observing Kwanzaa.

Established in 1966, Kwanzaa is celebrated each year as an opportunity for African Americans to honor African traditions of family, community, and culture. During the seven days leading up to the New Year, millions of individuals reflect on the past and renew their commitment to the principles of Kwanzaa — unity, self determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

As family and friends gather to celebrate Kwanzaa, our citizens are reminded of the many African Americans who have contributed their talent and strength to this great Nation. I commend those observing this holiday for taking pride in your rich heritage. May the coming year be filled with the blessings of health and happiness.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a joyous Kwanzaa celebration.

GEORGE W. BUSH