Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/20/2002 1:21:37 PM PDT by MadIvan
Germany's justice minister has denied likening George W Bush to Adolf Hitler, two days before her party faces the end of a cliffhanger election campaign.
Face it, Fraulein - you're busted - Ivan
Herta Daeubler-Gmelin said she had been misquoted in a newspaper report which angered the US president and prompted demands for her to resign.
Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin is from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party which had a wafer-thin lead in the polls going into the final weekend of electioneering.
Mr Schroeder and his rival for the post of German leader, Edmund Stoiber of the Christian Democrats, are holding their final rallies on Friday night.
'Misunderstood'
Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin became an election issue after the Schwaebisches Tagblatt reported that she told metalworkers that: "Bush wants to divert attention from domestic political problems" and onto Iraq.
The daily quoted her as saying: "It's a method that is sometimes favoured. Hitler also did that."
The minister held a packed press conference and agreed there had been discussion of politicians using foreign policy measures to distract from domestic issues at the meeting.
"I then said that we have known this debate since 'Adolf Nazi'," she said, adding that she had immediately clarified that she did not mean there should be a comparison between Hitler and President Bush.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president was "very angered" and Washington had "made our views known" to Berlin.
Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin said she called US Ambassador Dan Coats to make it clear that she had not made the reported comparison.
"I want to contribute to clearing away shadows, if there are any," she said.
A professional politician should have realised that making anywhere near such a comparison was going to create a problem; either she's an idiot or a psycho socialist, but I repeat myself - Ivan
The minister said she would not resign over the matter.
Danke schoen, Fraulein - you may have just killed your rancid socialist government - Ivan
Political opponents have jumped on the row, with a senior aide to Mr Stoiber saying Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin had damaged Germany.
"Every hour that Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin remains in office makes things worse," Michael Glos said.
Mr Stoiber himself said the reported remarks were "unspeakable and intolerable".
Shifting priorities
Mr Stoiber's conservative forces had been well ahead in opinion polls until last month, when a flood disaster and fears of war in Iraq enabled Chancellor Schroeder to catch him up.
The Hitler row continues the focus on foreign policy which has diverted attention from the economy - Mr Schroeder's weak spot.
The latest poll - issued on Friday, two days ahead of the vote - showed Mr Schroeder with a wafer-thin lead of roughly 1.5% - less than the study's margin of error.
The polling by the Forsa institute also came too late to include reaction to the Hitler row and correspondents say the election is still wide open.
Mr Stoiber is holding his last rally in Berlin, while Mr Schroeder is taking to the stage in Dortmund with the Nobel-prize winning author Guenter Grass, and the Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson.
Both sides have been predicting victory.
Which party gets the chance to form the next government also depends on the results for smaller parties - the Greens and the Liberals (the FDP).
The Greens are Mr Schroeder's current partners in government, while the Liberals are the traditional partners of the conservatives.
The Forsa poll put the Liberals 0.5% ahead of the Greens.
If the former communist Party of Democratic Socialism succeeds in getting back into parliament the two main parties could even be forced into a "grand coalition" with each other.
Regards, Ivan
"Halten Sie mein bier und passen Sie dieses auf!"
Regards, Ivan
LOL!
Cheers.
I'd prefer to know how to say "You camel buggerers are about to get yours" in Arabic. ;)
Regards, Ivan
I fear this may be a net gain in votes for the Socialist...sorry to say.
If you want on or off this list, please let me know!
This has come about after much badgering by you, my friends and extended family...
LOL. Sounds like the Socialists are kicking up international tensions just to divert attention away from their screwed up economy. How Hitlarian! :~))
IF?
If Shroeder is re-elected he's going to have a very long crawl back to the White House.
It just shows how small a country Germany is. The response to a natural disaster might affect a governor's race in the US, but would be unlikely to affect how people vote for congress or president.
Heck, maybe Fraulein Gmlen will apply for the job of defense minister. Maybe she learned from Hitler!
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