GOOD news: Bush-Bashing a Favorite Sport for Europeans
By Andrew Cawthorne
LONDON (Reuters) - ..Indeed, among U.S. presidents, only Richard Nixon -- of Watergate notoriety -- comes close to rivaling Bush for the unpopularity stakes in Europe.
"We Europeans are extremely negative about him," said Anders Mellbourn, director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. "There is overwhelming support for Kerry among people in general."
Bush's Republican party, meeting at a New York convention this week, is upbeat over a flurry of new polls showing him gaining ground and leading his Democratic rival John Kerry, a Massachusetts senator.
But the mood in much of Europe is something else.
Anti-war countries France and Germany, in particular, are still smarting at their bitter spat with Bush over Iraq.
..EASTERN EUROPEANS
Bush-bashing is more rare in eastern Europe.
Pro-American feeling is traditionally stronger on that side of the continent due to Washington's role in the defeat of communism and heavy immigration to the United States.
In Poland, Bush's support has dropped from 61 percent last year to 38 percent due to Iraq, according to one poll. But that is higher than the 36 percent who oppose him and still makes him one of the most popular foreign politicians.
While western Europe's elite may sneer at Bush, Russia's elite take a different view, according to Masha Lipman, a political writer at Moscow's Carnegie Institute.
"The general assumption among elites is that Republicans are preferable to the Democrats as they didn't mess with Russia's internal affairs," she said.
Despite Europe's misgivings over Bush, most governments expect to be able to manage if he wins in November.
Some even hope to turn past problems to their advantage.
"It's almost like America is courting us," one senior German government official said recently of U.S. efforts to improve ties. "We will be able to work with this government just fine, if it stays in office."
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