USA Today (via Yahoo) points out yet another John Kerry flip-flop in a story that headlines the resurgence of George Bush's approval ratings above the 50% mark. Kerry had attacked Bush for moving nuclear waste to the federal dump at Yucca Flats in a rather obvious attempt to curry favor with Nevada voters. However, Bush pointed out that Kerry voted to make the site a nuclear waste dump in the Senate:

On Thursday, Bush charged his rival with turning a contentious environmental issue here into "a political poker chip."

In his 2000 campaign, Bush said "science, not politics," would determine whether he designated Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a depository for nuclear waste. As president, Bush approved the designation, recommended by the Energy Department, and Nevada opponents cried foul.

Kerry, in Nevada on Tuesday, said Bush broke his 2000 campaign promise. Kerry has voted for legislation that included provisions to allow nuclear dumps at Yucca, but in direct votes on whether to ship waste there, he voted no.

Are we seeing the pattern behind John Kerry's political calculations? Earlier this week he attempted to parse the difference between authorizing the use of force and deploying the troops. Earlier in the campaign, Kerry also tried to explain away that vote for the war and his later vote to defund it, while the troops were engaged in fighting. The Kerry triangulation strategy consists of voting for unpleasant options in principle but then loudly obstructing their actual implementation.

No wonder Kerry loves the UN.

USA Today also has this to say about Bush's approval ratings:

President Bush's job-approval rating, a key indicator of an incumbent's chance of being re-elected, has turned upward, the Gallup Poll finds. The share of Americans who say they approve of the job Bush is doing inched over the 50% mark to 51%. No president who was at or above 50% at this point in an election year has lost. ...

The poll finds the presidential race essentially tied: Bush leads Kerry 48%-46% among likely voters; independent Ralph Nader has 3%. The difference between Bush and Kerry is within the poll's error margin of +/- 4 percentage points.

As more of Kerry's nuance on the issues and lies about his Viet Nam experience get exposed, you can expect that moderates will be reassessing Bush's job performance, to Kerry's detriment. There is plenty of room for honorable opposition to Bush's policies. Kerry leaves no room for any policy opposition because he continually says one thing and does the opposite. Even Bill Clinton wasn't this slippery on policy.

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