Alternative Politico headline: George W. Bush ranks among least popular former presidents

In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll that rates how Americans remember previous U.S. presidents from the last half-century, only perennially unpopular Richard Nixon saved the Bush from a last-place finish. Of the nine most recent presidents polled, Bush came in eighth in terms of how many people retrospectively approved of his presidency. Of the nine presidents polled, the average approval rating was 59 percent. Bush though, only tallied a 47 percent.

Yet amazingly, Politico typed up the poll results as good news for Bush.

How was Bush's nearly last place finish in the poll good news? Because Bush's approval rating came in one point “higher” than Obama's latest Gallup rating. (Fact: Based on margin of error, the approval rating for both men is basically the same.)

That's right, Politico decided to mix apples and oranges and compare the backward-looking approval ratings of a president who is no longer in office, who no longer has responsibilities, and who no longer has to make difficult choices (hint: those numbers almost always go up over time) and sizes that up with today's sitting president.

And based on that oddball, nonsensical premise, Bush's eighth-out-of-ninth place finish in the Gallup poll is good news for Republicans and bad news for Obama! (I can't make this up.)