Nagourney pens an infuriating "analysis" of the effect of Iraq on Blair

[BurtWorm]

Notice how Nagourney glosses right over the fact that it was fucking BUSH whose case for war was untrue, how it's AMERICAN troops still being killed with no endgame in sight, and how AMERICAN streets were filled with millions of protestors before the war! :grr:

The real difference between the US and UK elections is that the British press did its job and did not fucking protect the war makers!



War Takes Higher Toll on Blair Than Bush
By ADAM NAGOURNEY


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/07/international/europe/07assess.html?pagewanted=print


In the American campaign, Mr. Bush arguably succeeded in turning the war into an electoral asset, linking the pursuit of Mr. Hussein to the fight against terrorism that he began after the Sept. 11 attacks. Even the failure to find illicit weapons and the continuing violence in Iraq seemed not to matter to American voters, to the frustration of Senator John Kerry, his Democratic opponent.

But Mr. Blair's situation could not have been more different. His campaign became gripped and battered in the final two weeks by the very kind of Iraq news that seemed to roll off Mr. Bush: the death of a British soldier, the appearance of the dead soldier's tearful mother denouncing Mr. Blair and orchestrated leaks of government documents that challenged the truthfulness of the case he had made for war.


...

This campaign also took place six months after the American elections, a period in which frustration among opponents of the war here has grown. "The troops are still there and are still being killed - there's no endgame here," said Christopher J. Bailey, a professor of politics at Keele University in Staffordshire.

From the outset, antiwar sentiment in Britain has been deeper than in the United States; a demonstration in February of 2003 drew one million people in London alone. And many of those protesters were members of Mr. Blair's Labor Party, a reminder of the considerable risk Mr. Blair took in embracing the war.

[BurtWorm]

1. kick

[AlCzervik]

2. Nagourney is a Bush toadie and an ass

What he doesn't get is that the British public knew from the beginning that it was all bullshit and unlike here Blair went to war when public sentiment there was firmly against it and now he'll pay the price.

[BurtWorm]

3. American sentiment was mostly against the war until it was launched.

Then, like dutiful sheep, the public baa'd its approval. But beforehand, there was a lot of skepticism about the timing, motives, case, etc. for the war. And, of course, there were mass demonstrations against it, as there were in cities all over the world. I was at a few of them.

What we didn't have in the US was an intelligent, comprehensive dialogue about the war in the media. The media did their usual sleepwalking act, parroting what Bush officials said, mostly, especially in the cool medium of TV. That medium mostly ignored voices challenging the administration in the prelude, and then shut them out entirely once the bombs began to fall.

[AlCzervik]

5. I remember in the lead up to war that most polls showed american favoring

the invasion. Maybe i'm wrong on that point but thats what i can recall.

[BurtWorm]

6. I thought it was less solid. In fact I remember after Powell's speech,

the enthusiasm for for the war dropped off. People wanted to give the inspections time. In my estimation, polls have usually shown that Bush's policies are popular only with the fascist party. Everyone else is mostly noncommital, and occasionally actually reasonable. But I'm just talking from memory and impression. I should probably Google polls, but I'm too lazy. :boring:

[AlCzervik]

7. here is an article from right before the invasion

the lower left hand side show the results of a gallop poll but the article shows that American were more in favor of the war with the UN's ok.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-03-16-poll-iraq_x.htm

The poll from gallop shows majority support but i don't think they asked about the un's blessing so that higher level of support is skewed imo.

[BurtWorm]

8. See, Americans have always been more reasonable than the admin.

Which isn't all that surprising.

[sallyseven]

4. The Gestapo around bush

does not allow contact with people who would criticize him. No crying mothers and fathers or siblings. No No. Bubble boy is riding to a bad fall. No legacy for him just disdain.