Andrew Kohut Public Quotations

He is not a jocular personality. He's not out talking in the public a lot. Certainly, the Scooter Libby problem, which has really added to the White House woes, is associated with him. All of these things tend to make him a bigger heavy for Bush's critics.

The overall finding of public opinion since the September 11 attacks is that the American public is willing to see the rules bent a little bit in the war on terrorism.

So the public is really very divided on this issue. The ambivalence is remarkable.

Attitudes are a little more complicated than thumbs up or thumbs down. Americans do care about Iraq, but it doesn't have the personal impact that the war in Vietnam had. Secondly, this is a more patriotic time. Even though the public is disillusioned with the war in Iraq, it tends to support the concept of preemptive war at a time when most people feel we're at risk.

This important question of the trade-off of civil liberties and protection is one the public takes very seriously,