HERO AND VILLAIN

President Bush is both in the eyes of the public, but he's much more likely to be viewed as a villain. An Associated Press/Ipsos poll shows one in four adults consider the president a bad guy. About half that number -- 13 percent -- see Bush as a hero. According to the report:

Bush was the choice of 43 percent of Democrats for villain of the year, higher than the 27 percent of Republicans who chose Bush as their hero. Bush was far ahead of any other figure in the race for villain of the year. The runners-up were Osama bin Laden, who earned just 8 percent of mentions, Saddam Hussein, at 6 percent, and the president of Iran with 5 percent of mentions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il rounded out the top five with just 2 percent of all mentions.

In the race for hero of the year, Bush won by a smaller margin, with the troops in Iraq coming in second place with 6 percent of mentions. Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama and Jesus Christ rounded out the top five with 3 percent of mentions each. Older adults were more likely to name Bush as hero than younger adults. Those 35 and older, 16 percent, were twice as likely as those under 35, 7 percent, to name Bush as hero. Fully a quarter of white evangelical Christians named Bush as hero, more than all Protestants, 18 percent, and Catholics, 12 percent.

We can already hear the grumblers on both fringes claiming the poll was rigged (libs: "No one thinks he's a hero." cons: Oprah and Obama tied with Jesus?). A pox on both extremes.