A new poll yields some familiar and some very strange results.

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll says 55 percent of those surveyed consider honesty, integrity and other values of character the most important qualities they look for in a presidential candidate.

Nothing earth shattering there, most Americans want their leaders to be good people above all else. It’s been a time proven formula for greatness, although few leaders have been able to remain above the fray during their entire political lives.

But in an AP-AOL News poll conducted in January, only 44 percent said they thought Bush was honest.

Again, nothing new. The lagging results in Iraq have cost Bush dearly, both politically and personally.

Giuliani leads the pack among voters who look first to a candidate’s character, issues and leadership qualities.

Okay, now it’s starting to get interesting. Giuliani leading Romany and Huckabee in the character test is akin to saying Mr. Ed was a real horse. Just ask Rudy’s three wives. Or his kids.

Clinton leads Obama among voters who mention honesty and strong character, compassion, intelligence and stance on issues.

Did I read that correctly? Mrs. Bill Clinton is more honest and has a stronger character than the current savior of the Dem’s party, Obama? That dude must be really whacked if that is the case. Did we suddenly forget that she hid files to protect her husband? That she claimed responsibility for killing the Family Marriage Act? Values? Yeah, she has them. Win. At any cost.

Where do they find these people to poll? The Lincoln bedroom?

Americans in Iraq aren’t the only ones “surging” right now.

Violence along the U.S.-Mexico border is undergoing what U.S. law-enforcement authorities call “an unprecedented surge,” some of it fueled by weapons and ammunition purchased or stolen in the United States.

The laundry list of weapons is amazing.

Last month, Mexican military officials in Matamoros, just south of Brownsville, Texas, stopped a tractor-trailer containing weapons and ammunition, along with a pickup truck fitted with armor and bulletproof glass.

The weapons included 18 M-16 assault rifles, one equipped with an M-203 40mm grenade launcher. Also seized were several M-4 carbines, 17 handguns of various calibers, 200 magazines for different weapons, 8,000 rounds of ammunition, assault vests and other military accessories.

But wait, there’s more.

A task force led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also seized two completed improvised explosive devices, materials for making 33 more, 300 primers, 1,280 rounds of ammunition, five grenades, nine pipes with end caps, 26 grenade triggers, 31 grenade spoons, 40 grenade pins, 19 black powder casings, a silencer and cash during raids in Laredo, Texas, last month.

And into the breach we throw a neglected Border Patrol, an agency not given serious tools for the job, because the job is not taken seriously by our “leaders.”

[T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council] said assaults against Border Patrol agents have more than doubled over the past two years, mainly by drug cartels “far more inclined to utilize violence as a means of achieving their goal of successfully smuggling contraband and people.”

In 1915-16 Mexican bandit and revolutionary Pancho Villa attacked and killed Americans in both Mexico and the U.S. The violence prompted President Wilson to send troops to protect the border region. Today we have trafficking in weapons, humans, drugs, and related violence along our border with Mexico yet next to nothing is done about it. Why? Is it Greed? Incompetence? Stupidity? Corruption?

Our nation is in danger but still we slumber. The mind reels.