Thursday, February 08, 2007

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Things aren't looking too good...


Souvenir shop along the main street in Crawford, Texas. The town is doing about as well as its Village Idiot is doing in D.C.

Near the lone stoplight on Main Street, a for-sale sign hangs from a dusty window where a souvenir shop used to sell cufflinks, cowboy boots and denim shirts emblazoned “The Western White House.”

Another gift store across the street is shuttered too, though a sign says it will reopen elsewhere. And the biggest souvenir shop in Crawford is reporting a drop in sales.

The Washington professionals have their polls, their focus groups and their newspaper editorials. But Crawford, the 700-person town where President Bush’s ranch is located, has its trinket stores, and they have fallen on hard times, in what some say reflects the president’s sinking popularity.....