Posted on 09/27/2006 8:49:33 AM PDT by lowbridge
The recent firestorm over former President Bill Clinton's culpability for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was fueled on Tuesday when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice contrasted President Bush's efforts to pursue al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with Clinton's efforts. Clinton has strongly denied various suggestions that his administration missed key opportunities to kill bin Laden and left the Bush administration without a comprehensive anti-terrorism strategy. However, Bush -- whom Clinton says did nothing about al-Qaeda for the first eight months of his presidency -- has the bigger image problem with Americans on the issue.
According to a recent Gallup Panel survey, the American public puts the primary blame on Bush rather than Clinton for the fact that bin Laden has not been captured. A majority of Americans say Bush is more to blame (53%), compared with 36% blaming Clinton.
Clinton's reputation in this matter is far from unblemished, however. A separate question in the Sept. 21-24 survey measures the degree to which each president is blamed for the failure to capture or kill bin Laden. Forty-two percent of Americans believe Clinton deserves either a great deal or a fair amount of blame, while only 32% say he deserves no blame. However, a larger number, 53%, assign a great deal or fair amount of blame to Bush for failing to track down bin Laden.
-snip
Republicans and Democrats are largely divided into opposing camps on the question of who is more to blame for bin Laden's ability to evade capture: 71% of Republicans say Clinton is more to blame while 83% of Democrats hold Bush more responsible.
(Excerpt) Read more at galluppoll.com ...
Gay polls for an emasculated country.
Who did they poll? Union members and the ACLU? Im fairly certain this poll is skewed..
Why is this poll suprising? Most Americans never heard of UBL before 9/11.
gallup, eh? don't trust 'em. my guess is they don't want us using Clinton's culpability becasue it hurts the dems too much.
poppycock
The Poll asks the wrong question. They ask a question that gets the result they want. A better question would be who has or is doing more to combat Islamo Fascism, George Bush or Bill Clinton?
Given they didn't even know his name during Clinton's 'administration', this isn't surprising.
More push-polling. Getting more and more difficult to summon the interest to care when so many people appear so dead-set on being overtaken by events.
I'm thinking of the little girl with the Southern accent on the Shake and Bake commercials "And I helped". This is the position of the MSM with President Bush's image problem.
It is only by Divine intervention that Americans have not totally screwed up this country. Tens of millions of absolute idiots are hard to overcome.
Sheesh....it looks like part of the strategy of the Dems is to get into a neener neener neener match....about something in the past. Typical loonies. I think they they think this is the ONLY thing they can bank on for the upcoming elections.
Did anyone ever think to blame UBL for not being captured?......
That "little girl" is now a middle aged grandmother.......
Why are AP and Reuters not investigated as monopolies?
There are no other widely based news services in the US.
There should be inquiries into the effects of these two agencies on the public good.
Microsoft is a pussycat compared to these companies.
How long did it take for us to capture the Unabomber, Ted Bundy, The BTK killer, etc.?
I bet 42% is a lot higher than it would of been had he kept his mouth shut. He started everyone looking, and talking about his record.
Unfortunate bump.
Bill Clinton was offered OBL. Now we can debate whether it would've been prudent policy then but he DID have OBL and didn't take him.
The poll also cites the "fact" that OBL is not dead (and they call it a fact). While it is likely, given new tapes, he does not use videos anymore.
The real example of Yellow Journalism was the Hezbollah ra-raing of Reuters, AP, etc. during the military exchange with Israel in Lebanon.
Refute; refute; refute! President Bush knows his history and is doing all he can. The economy here is fat, helped by the price of oil and tax cuts. With the 'unaccepted war' for some, going on, this President is carrying a load that is unprecedented since FDR. President Bush's initiatives from social security to illegal immigration have been misrepresented by the MSM and the left. You have to go back and read what the man said to know what he said and it is always enlightening
.Bush is right and he does not want amnesty
.guest card workers do not make a citizen or give them amnesty. These are mostly seasonal workers who come and leave. Swim through the propaganda if you can and find the truth. Hillary and Bill are up to their old tricks with the usual apologists rallying to their call.......stop the divisive rhetoric and rally around President Bush.
Manufactured news, and as worthless as someone else's chewed food.
Relax, this is only the start.........the Dims are going to have a whole sh*tload of polls out showing that everyone under the sun blames Bush for OBL......can't have ol BJBilly looking bad now can we?
President Bush has a track record of vigorously opposing terrorism and bringing the fight to terrorists worldwide. Catching Osama bin Laden is not make-or-break to President Bush's reputation.
Former President Clinton, on the other hand, has a supposed legacy that is built like a house of cards. If it is implied that he was playing politics with the capture of Osama bin Laden, most folks will be inclined to believe it, since Bill Clinton plays politics with everything.
I tell my young daughter that her reputation is very important, because if you earn a good reputation, people will be inclined to believe the best about you. On the other hand, if you develop a bad reputation, it takes an awful lot of good work before you will be recognized.
President Bush has earned his good reputation as a strong and forthright leader in the War on Terror. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is Bill Clinton. We all know about Bill Clinton, don't we?
Isn't this the correct answer? It isn't about 9/11. Bush has been in office 6 years, including 5 after 9/11. So if you want to "blame" someone for Bin Laden not being caught, wouldn't you blame Bush, who has not caught him in the last 6 years, instead of Clinton, who had 8 years but wasn't really looking for him the first couple of years?
I suppose if you properly educated the world, they would equally blame them, or say there is no blame, but most people just know that Bush has been trying to get Bin Laden since 9/11 and has failed.
too bad for gallup that the opinion of 1000 adults doesn't decide the election no matter how many times they try and influence it.
This is a no brainier. They tried to hand him over to the bent one and he refused. Can't say the same about Bush. Issue closed. Clintoon and the dims are to blame.
It is GWB's fault that Bin Laden hasn't been caught. That can be said without debate. The other side of the coin is it is entirely WJC's fault that Bin Laden is still breathing. Bill had several opportunities to make crates and dust out of Bin Laden. There was also a declined offer for turning him over to our custody.
He should have been dust prior to 9/11.
Why would this surprise anyone? In their collective wisdom, the American people elected Clinton president. Twice. In the long run, the popular will pushes things in the right direction. Maybe.
Why would this surprise anyone? In their collective wisdom, the American people elected Clinton president. Twice. In the long run, the popular will push things in the right direction. Maybe.
Gallup!
I would love to see point-by-point responses to the dem accusations on Bush vs Clinton actions.
E.g., Clinton had multiple opportunities to get OBL, could someone list these?
And Shrillary's pronouncement yesterday that had Bill been given a warning that OBL was going to attack us, he would have gone into immediate action. As I under Clinton did have such warning and DIDN'T act.
The dems have offered up other lies and I would like to see refutation
There have been close attempts on the pages but they come off as hard to follow.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"It is GWB's fault that Bin Laden hasn't been caught. That can be said without debate. The other side of the coin is it is entirely WJC's fault that Bin Laden is still breathing. Bill had several opportunities to make crates and dust out of Bin Laden. There was also a declined offer for turning him over to our custody. "
That OBL has not been taken out is true. BUT, President Bush has not had the wide open opportunities that were offered to the almighty klinton. The fault, the only fault, lies with klinton.
It is push polling folks.
Look at the question here ' for the fact that bin Laden has not been captured.'
If the question had been 'Who missed so many chances on taking down Bin laden' , the answer would be different.
Again this is a rat poll, where Dem voters hide behind the independent label, a useless poll.
Poll: Gallup Is Full Of Crap
All which goes to show that there are more horse's asses than there are horses.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.