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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (37411)	2/7/2004 9:32:28 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

A view from "across the pond" Bush in TV bid to halt poll slump President George Bush will launch a determined media campaign today to reverse a slump in the polls and defend his administration against charges that officials manipulated intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. With his approval rating falling below 50 per cent for the first time, Bush, who rarely gives one-on-one interviews, suddenly agreed to appear on this morning's Meet the Press programme. The move was widely seen as the beginning of a counter-offensive for an administration that has appeared increasingly besieged and rudderless. 'This is a signal that the President is going to go back on offence,' former Republican Party chairman Rich Bond told yesterday's Los Angeles Times. 'It's what he does best, personality-wise.' Republican insiders say they have been expecting a dip in popularity after it became clearer who would win the Democratic nomination, amid bad news from Iraq over WMDs. But Bush has also been hit by the fallout from what has been deemed an uninspiring State of the Union address, and the renewal of questions over whether he had fulfilled his duties as a National Guardsman in the 1970s. The broadcast followed an unapologetic defence of the Bush administration's decision to go to war by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Berlin yesterday, claiming it had made the world a 'safer place'. Returning to the scene of his dramatic clash last year with Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Rumsfeld said the invasion had served as a warning to other countries with WMDs. 'I know in my heart and brain that America ain't what's wrong with the world,' Rumsfeld told the annual security conference in Munich, attended by Geoff Hoon and other European defence ministers. Last week Bush announced the formation of a seven-member panel to conduct an independent inquiry into the use of intelligence in the build-up to Iraq's invasion. The move, initially resisted by the White House, was prompted by the admission by chief weapons inspector David Kay that Iraq's WMDs were probably destroyed long before the war. Bush's poll figures have looked increasingly vulnerable in the face of a Democratic party energised by its candidates' campaigns. His approval ratings in all polls are now the lowest of his presidency. Bush also loses against Democrat frontrunner John Kerry in some polls. 'I think Bush really looks vulnerable,' said Professor Richard Stoll of Rice University. Democratic strategists now find themselves in a position few could have dreamed of a few months ago. They are riding high in the polls with a grassroots base energised by the insurgent campaign of former Vermont governor Howard Dean. With frequent attacks on the war, healthcare and the economy they have also seized the initiative from a Republican party machine that was caught napping. 'Electability' has become the buzz word surrounding Kerry's campaign: many Democrats now believe they can keep Bush as a one-term president. But Bush may have nullified one potentially explosive area of Democratic attack. The independent commission will only report its findings in March 2005, long after the presidential election has been fought. guardian.co.uk lurqer