Please write some eloquent replies. Do what it takes to make the Germans know you are not amused...because, if it becomes an issue that leftist Germans had Schadenfreude about New Orleans...it would help the conservatives win in 2 weeks.Don't bother. This newspaper, the taz, is a left-wing radical piece of trash that is only read by Green party voters, anyway. Yes, they hate Americans. Yes, they are happy now, and yes, they were happy on 9/11, too. Denying the obvious is no use here. But...it is also true that the Green party is getting only about 8% of the vote. Add in the neo-communist Linke/PDS and the Nazi NPD, and you'll get about 16-20% of Germans who feel that way. The rest, i.e. over 80%, don't, however. No, not even Schröder's SPD is that evil.
Here are today's poll numbers in Germany:
Pro-Bush CDU = 42%
Conservative FDP = 7%
SPD (Schroeder) = 34%
Greens = 6%
Communists =8%
But this isn't a direct election so it doesn't matter that the CDU-FDP cannot muster 51%. The CDU has to beat the SPD in the majority of voting districts to win the equivalent of electoral votes = Bundestag members. With 42% to 34%, this should be a landslide for the CDU which took the entire south of Germany even in the last election (with the exception of northern Munich = the elite section).
The FDP, Greens and Linkspartei Commies are all so low that they will get even fewer seats than ever before (with the exception of the Commies). But FDP seats are wins for us because the CDU will have to ally with them most likely.
This is good news...but Germany is still an anti-Bush basket case of a place. Support for Angela Merkel directly...is not very high. Schroeder is still the most popular figure. The voters are schizo.
But a conservative government is likely. In the last election it was neck on neck with 38% for the CDU against 37% for the SPD going into the election with only 7% for the FDP and an entire 11% for the Greens!! The Greens voters won the election for the left in 2002.
The Greens have taken a hit this time around because they continued to support German participation in the WOT outside of Iraq. This was unacceptable to the 8% of the population that completely sides with Al Qaeda. The left is splintering itself to death now, making room for a huge blowout win for conservatives who have really only 2 parties CDU and FDP.
And only the CDU is really conservative, so rational Germans know EXACTLY whom to vote for: Angela Merkel. Her party is at 42% now and that can mean a landslide for her.
Basically, the fewer parties your "side" has splintered into, the better the prospects of picking up a seat in parliament.
We're seeing the equivalent of Perot's candidacy destroying Bush Senior in 1992. The Linkspartei is torpedoing Schroeder to punish him for cooperating with Bush in Afghanistan.
We're seing the equivalent of Nader torpedoing Al Gore in 2000. Without Ralph Nader, the USA would have had a Gore presidency.
So Germany will get a reasonable Chancellor only because the left splintered while the right held firm in only two parties instead of the 3 on the left.
Let us only hope that most voting districts are as divided as the polls show. If districts are really homogenous (as many are), the polls show that the conservatives might not get a majority in the Bundestag (unlikely).
But, even if that happens, Schroeder has guaranteed that he will NOT form a new government with the Linkspartei but, rather, ally with the pro-Bush conservatives to stay in Afghanistan and do other rational things.