'Bush Is Not Even Popular in the Role of the Enemy Anymore'

Tell it to the Democrats in Congress who are still pushing impeachment.

The young anarchists, middle-aged peace activists and established left-wing politicians here have at least one thing in common: none bothered to keep a six-year tradition alive by organizing a protest against President Bush’s arrival here Tuesday.

“Bush is not even popular in the role of the enemy anymore,” wrote Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

As in many other parts of Europe, Mr. Bush was a popular villain here even before the Iraq invasion, in part because of his steadfast rejection of the Kyoto Protocol limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. His visits to Germany have reliably drawn thousands into the streets to denounce him and his policies, beginning with his first visit to Berlin in May 2002.

Hate to break it to the reporter (again!), but it was the U.S. Senate that rejected Kyoto in a 95-0 vote while Bill Clinton was president. How is it simple facts just keep escaping them?

In February 2005, the police essentially shut down the city of Mainz for Mr. Bush’s visit, closing six highways and stopping river traffic on the Rhine, out of fear of enormous demonstrations. Two summers ago, Mr. Bush came for a barbecue with Chancellor Angela Merkel in her east German electoral district, Stralsund, and almost exactly a year ago he attended the Group of 8 summit meeting at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm. The protesters turned out in force both times.

Monty Schädel, one of the organizers behind both the Stralsund and the Heiligendamm protests, said the absence of public protests this time went beyond Mr. Bush’s often-cited lame-duck status. There has been a noticeable shift here, he said, toward wrestling with German issues rather than focusing judgment on the United States.

“The theme of U.S. war policy is no longer the biggest one,” Mr. Schädel said, emphasizing German deployments to Afghanistan rather than American troops in Iraq. “German war policy is now the most important. We need to return to our own doorstep.”

Of course the fact that Iraq has stabilized and Bush has been vindicated also escapes the reporter.

Can't have any inconvenient facts when we have only seven months left to bash Bush.

According to Der Spiegel, Bush will darken our image for years to come.

Yawn.