The Candidates' Perceived Closeness to Bush: An Asset or Liability?

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from "En Route"
by Four80East
Native Language Music

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written on May 3, 2007

So far it appears that John McCain is the lone Republican to be openly critical of President Bush. Will any of the other Republican candidates use tonight’s debate as an opportunity to join McCain in distancing himself from George Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, or the debacle surrounding the firing of the U.S.attorneys, or perhaps the woefully mismanaged Hurricane Katrina disaster response? I can't imagine MSNBC's Chris Matthews not asking at least a few hardball questions with the intent of provoking the candidates to proclaim their support or disapproval of Bush's job performance.

According to a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted April 20-24, 76 percent of Republicans said they approved of Mr. Bush’s job performance. That seems to be reason enough for a candidate not to voice sharp criticism of Bush during the debate. However, only 32 percent of overall respondents in the New York Times/CBS News poll said they actually approve of the President’s job performance. As New York Times writer Adam Nagourney notes in his article today, “That is something certain to be on the mind of all the major Republican candidates on Thursday night — aware that they are not speaking, say, to a Republican audience in Dubuque, Iowa, but a national audience watching on MSNBC…”


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