CNN: 'Will Bush-bashing Help Democrats Win Over Weary Voters?'

On Friday, CNN prominently featured an article at the front page of its website with the headline,"Can Bush-bashing Help Sway Voters?" (pictured right).

Click on that link, and the reader was treated to an even more inflammatory title:

Will Bush-bashing Help Democrats Win Over Weary Voters?

Not surprisingly, the article was just as defamatory to America's 43rd President:

While he's not on the ballot, George W. Bush is still vital to the midterm election as far as the nation's top Democrat is concerned.

President Obama has made a point recently to invoke Bush's name in what many say is a calculated effort to remind voters of the previous administration's economic policies, which Democrats argue led to the worst recession in modern history.

Author Ed Hornick next used some polls to validate Obama's strategy:

A Quinnipiac University poll, taken July 13-19, asked 2,181 registered voters: "Who do you blame more for the current condition of the U.S. economy: former President George W. Bush or President Barack Obama?"

Fifty-three percent said Bush; 25 percent said Obama; 21 percent said either neither, both or unsure.

Perhaps the most stark example of why Bush's name is now a part of Obama's stump speech comes from a poll by the Benenson Strategy Group, the president's chief polling firm. The poll was taken for Third Way, a moderate think tank.

Let's be a tad more specific about the last pollsters. The New York Times in January referred to BSG as "a Democratic polling firm."

As for Third Way, it refers to itself at its website as "the leading moderate think-tank of the progressive movement." That makes it moderate for progressives not moderate!

Even more telling: "Three of our former chairs now serve in the senior ranks of the Obama administration: Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Under-Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher."

As such, to support his point concerning why Bush-bashing is a good strategy for Obama and the Democrats this election, Hornick referenced a study by a Democratic pollster and a progressive think-tank with three former chairmembers now working for the White House!

With this in mind, readers shouldn't be at all surprised with their findings: 

Conducted June 19-22 of 1,100 likely voters, the poll found that Bush's economic principles are "almost universally rejected" by a large margin -- and merely bringing up Bush's name causes a swing in attitudes.

When respondents were asked whether they would prefer a candidate who "will stick with President Barack Obama's economic policies" or "one who will return to President George W. Bush's economic policies," the result was a 15-point advantage for the Obama approach.

"President Bush is the key here," said Sean Gibbons of Third Way. "If you enter President Bush's name into the equation and ask people when they're making a choice at the polls between going forward with President Obama's economic agenda or voting for a candidate who will pursue similar economic ideas as President Bush, Obama runs the table by 49 points. That is extraordinary."

Obama and his Party should feel very comfortable in using this strategy, as they clearly have CNN on their side.