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He can talk. What a surprise
The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) ^
| 11/23/03
| Stephen Pollard
Posted on 11/22/2003 4:19:52 PM PST by Pokey78
Would you believe it? Not only can that Texan halfwit speak in proper sentences, he is even capable of reading a good speech and not fluffing his lines. It only goes to show what you can do with a speechwriter and some coaching. The response to President George W Bush's speech on Wednesday has been almost universally (and so typically Britishly) condescending. Few have criticised its content; since it ranks as one of the finest delivered by a visiting leader; that would be a sneer too far. Instead, reaction has been surprise, either feigned or genuine, that he managed to speak for so long, so well.
Mary Dejevsky, writing in The Independent, was typical: "Whoever has been coaching George Bush in oratory deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom (and a congratulatory glass of champagne)." Almost the entire British chattering class seems to be animated by the same deep-seated contempt for Mr Bush. Even when confronted by the evidence of their own eyes and ears, that he is a thoughtful, charming, convincing, eloquent, intelligent, forceful leader, they cannot bring themselves to believe that he is as he seems. And when they do witness such positive traits, they are clearly being hoodwinked. As The Guardian began its leader on Thursday: "Conscious that he has a bit of catching up do to, George Bush turned on the charm yesterday."
No, he didn't. He spoke as he always does: with a clarity of moral and political purpose unmatched by any American politician since Ronald Reagan, and with a charm that all who have met him confirm is entirely natural. The speech should hardly have come as a surprise. After all, he spoke just as eloquently when interviewed by Sir David Frost last Sunday. But until now the chatterers have chosen neither to listen nor to see. Last week they had no alternative, and so decided it was a one-off.
What such attitudes really reveal, however, is not how much they loathe President Bush but the reality of - I choose my words carefully - anti-Americanism in Britain. It is a phrase that has been bandied about far too loosely of late and is usually intended - and taken - to mean a loathing and hatred of all things, and people, American.
Real anti-Americanism - the sort that lies behind so much of the hostility to President Bush - isn't about hating burgers and Matt Monro. It is far more subtle. The really damaging anti-Americanism - because it blinds its sufferers to reality - derives from that characteristically British sneering superiority which so permeates metropolitan and media circles. It is the conviction that the arriviste who has moved in next door with his flashy car and his gauche ex-model wife may have more money, own the business and be getting more sex, but he lacks what really matters: class. That Bush fellow is just so typically American: crude and unsophisticated.
The Sunday after the World Trade Centre attack, John Humphrys paraded the full scorn of the superior Briton, attacking the likes of George Bush who "damn those who did it as evil, as though there is nothing more to say, as though we still believe in a devil with a forked tail. Perhaps President Bush truly does - his Christianity is of a pretty fundamental variety."
It is not just President Bush. His predecessor, Bill Clinton, was equally American; just as fundamentally uncouth and unable to resist his gross appetites. But we humoured him, since he spoke our sort of language. What really offends about George Bush is that what you see is what you get, and what you see is a genuine American who makes no effort to be anything else. We can put up with Americans who seem ashamed to be American. Woe betide them, however, if they are proud of it. They will have to put up with our weapon of choice: the condescending sneer.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bush43; condescendingliberal; threepillarsspeech; ukvisit
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To: Pokey78
More evidence that W's visit to the U.K. was a great idea.
Great article.
21
posted on
11/22/2003 4:58:40 PM PST
by
Rocky
To: doug from upland; ALOHA RONNIE; Mia T
ping!
22
posted on
11/22/2003 4:58:54 PM PST
by
nutmeg
(Is the DemocRATic party extinct yet?)
To: Pokey78
Good article, except Matt Monro was British, albeit of Italian extraction. He did "Born Free", "Walk Away" in the 1960s and 70s. About as American as Engelbert Humperdinck or Tom Jones who were his near contemporaries.
To: Pokey78
It is not just President Bush. His predecessor, Bill Clinton, was equally American; just as fundamentally uncouth and unable to resist his gross appetites. Say WHUT????!!!
To: nicmarlo
25
posted on
11/22/2003 5:10:07 PM PST
by
MeekOneGOP
(http://richard.meek.home.comcast.net/SorosClintoon.JPG)
To: Pokey78
Real anti-Americanism - the sort that lies behind so much of the hostility to President Bush - isn't about hating burgers and Matt Monro.Who?
26
posted on
11/22/2003 5:12:59 PM PST
by
L.N. Smithee
(Just because I don't think like you doesn't mean I don't think for myself)
To: L.N. Smithee
bttt
27
posted on
11/22/2003 5:15:38 PM PST
by
Pikamax
To: Pokey78
My father-in-law recently said.."Bush is stupid...that degree from Yale was just because his dad went there." I asked him if knew that Bush had been a jet fighter PILOT....and he had NEVER heard that!!! geesh....talk about IGNORANT.
To: Ann Archy
"Bush is stupid...that degree from Yale was just because his dad went there."
Daddy may help get you into college, but daddy can't get you through it!
29
posted on
11/22/2003 5:25:03 PM PST
by
TRY ONE
(NUKE the unborn gay whales!)
To: nutmeg
...Praise GOD that...
...President BUSH has promised...
...FREEDOM's Return to:
Communist Vietnam
Communist North Korea
Communist Cuba
...and its arrival to all the Countries of the Middle East during a BUSH Presidency as our our best Self-Defense against future Terrorist Attacks.
And THAT's the Only Reality here.
30
posted on
11/22/2003 5:25:42 PM PST
by
ALOHA RONNIE
(Vet-Battle of IA DRANG-1965 www.LZXRAY.com)
To: Pokey78
What really offends about George Bush is that what you see is what you get, and what you see is a genuine American who makes no effort to be anything elseBravo!
31
posted on
11/22/2003 5:32:47 PM PST
by
The Mayor
(Through prayer, finite man draws upon the power of the infinite God.)
To: Pokey78
Excellent piece by Stephen Pollard! It's good to know that they aren't
all Euro-scum, even if most of those strangers on the other side of the world seem to be.
Stephen misses one critical consideration, though: The main reason that the Euro-scum hate Bush and hate America is because we simply don't give a rat's behind what they think about us. We flick them off like dandruff, without a second thought, and they just can't stand it.
To: Ann Archy
You could also tell that after W graduated from Yale, he got his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard. It doesn't get any better than that. And daddy didn't go there, either.
And then ask him about AlGore's graduate degrees. Hint. He doesn't have any. He flunked out of one and dropped out of the other (with a little push!)
To: stands2reason
These idiots have some sort of guilt about being Americans and have a strong need to portray themselves as supporting the underdog. What they don't understand though is that there are millions of people around the world who would gladly trade places with them.
34
posted on
11/22/2003 5:34:11 PM PST
by
Arpege92
To: L.N. Smithee
Yeah, count me in too - - who, or what, is Matt Monro?
To: Pokey78; Prime Choice
I like to imagine the guards at Buckingham Palace dressed in Leiderhosen and a great big swastica atop the monument in Trafalgar Square. I wish I had the time and talent to doa picture like that.
These ungrateful bastards should be on their hands and knees thanking God for all things American.
36
posted on
11/22/2003 5:37:25 PM PST
by
ElkGroveDan
(Fighting for Freedom and Having Fun)
To: Pokey78
Aw, it's just that the Brit chattering classes are jealous because our celebrity pedophiles are wealthier than their celebrity pedophiles.
37
posted on
11/22/2003 5:40:44 PM PST
by
MHGinTN
(If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
To: chaosagent
At Yale Bush partied heartily, got involved in just about every extracurricular activity available, and still earned Bs and Cs...his grades at Harvard must have been respectable, since The New Yorker hasn't published them. Meanwhile Al Gore was too stoned to complete any postgraduate degrees.
To: Pokey78
Complete the following sentence:
As American as .............?
As American as George W Bush.
To: Pokey78
The landscape (here and abroad) is littered with the wreckage of fools who underestimated George W. It astounds me how many people believe that he doesn't know how to pronounce "nuclear". I am absolutely sure he does it the way he does it just to annoy people and lead them to think he's stupid.
This is a guy with degrees from both Harvard and Yale, the two cathedrals where liberalism worships and they still don't get it. May his (and my) enemies continue to underestimate him.
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