Posted on 07/28/2004 9:57:12 AM PDT by lizol
Europe, Down On Bush, Keeps A Keen Eye On Kerry AFP: 7/27/2004 LONDON, July 27 (AFP) - Europe is watching this week's Democratic Party convention with keen interest, with many seeing in John Kerry a potential saviour from US President George W. Bush and his unilateralist ways.
Though the two rivals for the White House are neck and neck in US opinion polls, Kerry is widely regarded as the out and out favourite among Europeans, both for his politics and his many ties with the continent.
"Europe wants a fresh start, and that includes Europeans who are pro-American ... who feel that there's just too much bad blood around" in the wake of the Iraq war, said Steven Everts of the Centre for European Reform.
"Europe and America need a chance to start again," Everts told AFP in London on Tuesday, "and that's easier to do under a new administration."
European governments, predictably, don't want to be seen as meddling in US politics in the run-up to the November polls.
But in Berlin, Karsten Voight, coordinator for German-US cooperation at the German foreign ministry, admitted that "no US administration in Germany and Europe in recent decades has been as unpopular as the Bush administration".
"Up to now, the majority of Germans want good relations with the United States, but sympathy for the current administration is running very low," he told German radio.
He added that Germany is forging links with the Democratic Party, believing that better ties with the opposition camp could prove useful if Kerry fails to take the White House.
"Kerry's main advantage is that he's not named Bush," Polish political scientist Zbigniew Lewicki told AFP in Warsaw.
"He's a particularly fuzzy character. He wants to follow in the footsteps (of late US president John Kennedy), even though he doesn't have his style and won't change the world," he said.
Poland, the biggest of the 10 newest EU member states, has not been so critical of Bush as France and Germany, which led European opposition to the Iraq invasion, Lewicki added.
"Bush's re-election would be welcomed with joy in Poland, but if it's Kerry, that would be just as good," he said.
In London, Gerard Baker, US editor of the Times newspaper, wrote: "It would be no surprise ... if political leaders in Europe were privately praying for the election of Saint John the Multilateralist."
Hungary's biggest newspaper, Nepszabadsag, hailed former president Bill Clinton's clarion call at the Democratic convention on Monday for the United States to rebuild its alliances with other nations.
"This is the most important message of the presidential elections for the world," it said, adding that under Bush, the word "liberal" has become as despicable as "communist".
In Sweden, the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, said Kerry has a number of advantages ahead of the November elections, not least of them "the millions of voters who want to kick Bush out of the White House".
"In 2000, people said it was dangerous to underestimate Bush. Now they are saying the same thing about Kerry, who (in the past) has always won where he was expected to fail," it said.
France is keeping its opinions of the presidential hopefuls to itself, but at least one newspaper, Le Figaro, argued that that's so Kerry does not lose because of the US backlash a French endorsement might bring.
"Since he started his campaign, John Kerry has sought to lose the French tag the Republicans has stuck on him," the conservative daily said.
Kerry, a French-speaker schooled in Switzerland whose father was a US diplomat in Europe, is a cousin of Brice Lalonde, environment minister in the previous Socialist government in Paris.
His grandfather emigrated to America in 1904 from the Austrian village of Moedling, near Vienna, where mayor Hans Hinter said a Kerry victory would be celebrated with a plaque on the ancestral home.
Such a great reason to vote for Bush....
Vote for Bush.. drive those snotty elitist french insane..
A Vote for Bush is a vote against the French...
When we're done thrashing him in November, the eurotrash can rehab him by making him Sultan of All Eurabia.
I'd say "liberal" is more despicable than "communist" because the person is hiding their real beliefs behind a mushy label.
EXACTLY the same stuff was said about Reagan vs Mondale!!!!
Its the usual suspects.
What say you, union workers?
Annoy the French, re-elect Bush/Cheney.
Ahhh, sheesh. Cry two tears in a bucket, Europe. As far as I'm concerned, the less you like the American president, the better he must be for U.S. interests.
Socialists of a feather will flock together.
"This is the most important message of the presidential elections for the world," it said, adding that under Bush, the word "liberal" has become as despicable as "communist".
This is why liberals hate to be identified as liberals. More and more people are finding out that liberal does mean communist.
They are jealous of our supreme power in all levels, economically, politically, and militarily. And at the same time they very afraid of us showing and using this unprecedented superior power because it is rendering them very marginal on the world stage. Many Europeans hate President Bush because he is just using this incredible immense might of the United States, and they do have re-elected because they prefer someone like John Kerry.
They know that John Kerry unlike President Bush will not use America might but rather believe that all the important foreign policy decisions, war, and global economy should be rather approved by Europe and the United Nation.
John Kerry will give Europe and the United Nations a power that they do not have, a power that will be on the expense of the United States of America.
Not only is he their favorite, but the skewed polls that seem to be their only source of information on how the race is going have them convinced that Kerry is as good as elected. Mayhap a shock for the Euro wimps is in store.
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