WE SHOULDN'T HAVE LET THEM FORGET

I almost put this under the heading "Why Martha Coakley Lost" -- one result, in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, that, to me, says a lot about where we stand after a year of the Obama presidency.

The question was:

Now I'm going to read you the names of several public figures and groups, and I'd like you to rate your feelings toward each one as either very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative. If you don't know the name, please just say so.

Here are the results for George W. Bush (click to enlarge):



The numbers are still awful -- but look at the "very negative" number. It's dropped 7 points since April. It's below 40% for the first time since January 2007.

It's not as if Bush is popular, exactly -- but how did he become less of a pariah? I know, I know -- time heals wounds; bad memories fade. But Bush was godawful.

Richard Nixon is still despised thirty-six years after he resigned; hell, people who don't even remember him hate him. And Bush was a worse president.

We're letting him get up, slowly, off the mat. And Democrats are hurting. Coincidence?