The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll presents President Bush and Senator Kerry in a virtual tie for votes. With two more presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate remaining, the momentum clearly looks to be in Kerry’s corner. Debate two will be in a town hall format with live questions being posed. This format looks to be more favourable for Kerry than Bush because of the outspoken nature of Bush’s criticizers. However, the debate rules call for only soft Kerry supporters and soft Bush supporters to be present. What this means is unclear. Kerry has a questionable senate record to explain, but Bush has failed presidential records in health care, job growth, the war in Iraq, and international affairs to explain. Kerry’s faults as a senator are relative, but Bush’s failures as a president are provable. Bush’s administration has been working hard to prevent generic, affordable Canadian and British drugs from entering the United States. Bush will be the first president since the Great Depression to have a net loss in job growth. Despite claims that the situation in Iraq is improving, violence only continues to expand, and today US forces occupy less of Iraq than they did after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Globally, the reputation of the United States has been greatly diminished. Opponents to the “Bush doctrine” include France, Germany, Russia and China. Ironically, even coalition forces are questioning Bush’s logic. Tony Blair, prime minister of Britain, while cooperating with Bush in the Iraq war, has publicly questioned the president’s stubbornness in how the war should be fought. Public opinion polls in England and Australia, the two most powerful of America’s allies in Iraq, show general disapproval of the war. Domestically, polls show similar attitudes in the United States. An ally at the beginning of the war, the Philippines has since existed Iraq, and current ally Poland plans to exist in 2005. Canada, traditionally considered to be “the 51st state of America”, does not support the war and has witnessed an increase of anti-American sentiments since Bush became president. The economic policies of Bush’s administration have directly effected the lumber, beef, steel and pharmaceutical industries of Canada. In Quebec, the heart of French Canada, support for President Bush is at 11%, while in Ontario, the industrial and financial heart of Canada, support is at 19%. The third presidential debate will focus on domestic issues, which political pundits claim to be Bush’s greatest liability. If anyone remembers the Republican National Convention, they will recall how Dick Cheney came across as an angry old man. Edwards can use Cheney’s volatility to his advantage in the vice-presidential debate. A reference to Halliburton will be sure to upset the less than timid Dick.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/03/gallup.poll/index.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...1003/ca_pr_on_na/poll_canada_u_s&sid=81587690
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/03/gallup.poll/index.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...1003/ca_pr_on_na/poll_canada_u_s&sid=81587690
