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| Europe |
| As Scroeder's Chances Dim, He Sinks To New Anti-US Depths |
| 2005-09-17 |
| What more can be said about Gearhead Scroeder? Ahead of tomorrow's election, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party has put up campaign posters featuring images of dead American soldiers in flag-draped coffins, reviving the anti-Iraq war message that helped the party stay in power three years ago. The posters target Mr. Schroeder's conservative challenger, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel, who is widely expected to become Germany's first female chancellor. "She would have sent [German] soldiers," the campaign posters read. CDU officials reacted angrily yesterday to the tactic, which is being used by Rolf Schwanitz, a state secretary in Mr. Schroeder's administration who is running for parliament. "It's totally tasteless," said CDU Secretary-General Volker Kauder. "There are limits even in an election campaign. You don't use the dead to win votes." The U.S. Embassy in Berlin declined comment. Just weeks before a similar election in September 2002, Mr. Schroeder made opposition to the U.S. campaign in Iraq a centerpiece of a previously lackluster re-election campaign. As a result, his coalition of Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green party managed to erase a deficit of up to ten percentage points in polls and narrowly retain their parliamentary majority. Then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Mr. Schroeder's decision to make Iraq a campaign issue had "poisoned" the U.S.-German relationship. A Western diplomat in Berlin said yesterday that the new posters, which show five coffins wrapped in American flags being loaded on a military aircraft, were "absolutely tasteless and outrageous." The conservative tabloid Bild, which first reported on the posters, called them "perverse election campaigning." Unlike three years ago, foreign policy has not been a major issue in this year's campaign, although Turkey's potential membership in the European Union has been discussed prominently in the last few days because of Germany's large Turkish minority. At a rally in the eastern city of Potsdam this week, Mr. Schroeder sounded a familiar note. "As long as we are in office, German foreign policy will be made in Berlin and not anywhere else," he said in an apparent reference to Washington, adding that Mrs. Merkel would have crumbled under "the kind of pressure" he faced over Iraq. Ironically, Mr. Schroeder's SPD supports the U.S. push for Turkey's EU membership while the CDU opposes it. Mr. Schroeder and Mrs. Merkel spoke at their final rallies in Berlin last night, although officials from both parties said they will continue campaigning through the weekend. The CDU has focused on Germany's troubled economy and the high unemployment rate, pointing to the chancellor's mistakes during his seven years in office. Mrs. Merkel began the campaign with a solid lead, but the gap has narrowed in the past couple of weeks. A Forsa agency poll released yesterday showed her preferred coalition with the Free Democrats would get 48 percent to 51 percent of the vote compared with 38 percent to 41 percent for the ruling SPD-Green alliance. About 25 percent are still undecided. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #13 German Ally, I'l apologise to you if I've offended you, but I want to make sure that you understand that I'm talking about the German Politicians, and not the German peoples. With the average German "On The Street" I have no quarrel at all. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-17 21:50 |
| #12 Having a bad day, SPoD? Now wipe the spittle off your chin and apologize to TGA. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2005-09-17 21:02 |
| #11 No withdrawal, boot on the neck, screw Germany, screw German Citizens. The vote is meaningless Merkel can't and will not change foreigh policy. They are fat self indulgent swine who take us for fools. Beware of attempts to smooth talk us. They have and will continue to sell the United States out any chance they get. The Vote is meaningless. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-17 20:31 |
| #10 sorry TGA - but it shows that when we reflexically say "withdraw from overseas, particularly Germany) - there's good reason |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-17 18:23 |
| #9 Sorry, didn't read through the article. Both the CDU sec-gen and an anonymous Western diplomat commented on the tastelessness of the campaign. Good. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-17 16:42 |
| #8 The American ambassador should simply have commented that he is shocked that a German would do something so rude. The Germans are very keen on showing good manners, and using the dead in a political advertisement shows one to have been poorly brought up. Good luck with the vote tomorrow, TGA. May the best [wo]man win! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-17 16:40 |
| #7 Agreed, TGA, but 1) this was low and 2) it's going to be close, closer than it should be. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-09-17 16:20 |
| #6 Can we vote first? Thanks |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-09-17 16:01 |
| #5 Though I am for removing all troops from German soil I don't think we can any more. I now am for continuing the "occupation" of Germany. They are not reliable and can't be trusted. They are not our allies. They are not our friends. They can't be trusted. We have offered our friendship and this is just one more sign that Germans are not and will not be good friends. Friends who disagree with us act like Canada and the UK. Their seems to me to be a national character defect to scape goat die Außenseiter for their problems. The others are currently The US and "new Europe". We are first on the list. Keep a boot on their neck to remind them we can, have and will turn their shitty little country into a pile of rubble again. Before anyone goes off on a tanget on this both my wife and I are directly descended from German immigrants to the US. Screw Germany. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-17 15:26 |
| #4 Won't work Oldspook, we "cut them loose" and we'll be fighting Germany in World War 3 inside of 20 years. Gotta watch these backstabbers closely. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-17 13:31 |
| #3 Schroder, Germany? Of course they hate us, we kicked their ass twice and occupied their country for Ummm, well we're still there. Watch the hands, not the mouth. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-17 13:27 |
| #2 They still dont have a clue. Cowards. More dead AMricans liek that means less dead Europeans. Consequently, Less dead Americans = more dead Europeans, by a large multiple. WW1, WW2, Korea, GW1, Afghanistan, Iraq. Maybe its time we just cut the continent (but not the Brits) loose except for our true allies who have stepped up (Poles and other Eastern Europeans, and the Italians). Screw em. Treat them as hostile if thats how they want it. See who the better ally is: Us or France. I can guarantee you which one will put the knife in your back. |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2005-09-17 12:01 |
| #1 Europeans' appetite for dead Americans isn't exactly limitless, but, they'd sure like to see a lot more dead than they have thus far. Despite their oft-repeated denials that they don't hate Americans, they hate our policies, at heart, pictures of dead Americans make them feel like the scales of international justice are in balance. Schroeder just happens to be the European maitre d for this monrth. |
| Posted by: jules 2 2005-09-17 10:48 |