Skip to comments.
Ugly Americans: Europe Cannot Blame It All On Bush
The International Herald Tribune ^
| June 7, 2004
| Pierre Lellouche
Posted on 06/06/2004 8:13:28 PM PDT by quidnunc
Ugly American? On Sunday, when 15 world leaders, including Presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, gathered on the beaches of Normandy to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied landings, it was hard to find a festive mood anywhere in Europe. Yet 3,000 U.S. soldiers died on D-Day and more than 400,000 Americans were killed in World War II. Their sacrifice made it possible for Europeans to celebrate the peaceful unification of Europe under the blue flag of liberty four weeks ago. Had it not been for the Allies and the United States, the unification of Europe would have taken place under quite different flags.
Sixty years is a long time. According to polls, a majority of European youths don't even know what "D-Day" is. But the passing of time is not the only explanation of the current mood in trans-Atlantic relations. The heart of the matter is far more profound, as evidenced by today's widespread anti-Americanism under its new guise, anti-Bushism.
Even those Europeans who still feel indebted to America take great pains to distinguish between the United States they respect that of Roosevelt, Clinton or Kerry and the Bush administration, which they openly despise.
I can remember U.S. presidents who were derided for being ignorant (Reagan), incompetent (Carter), or bumbling (Ford). But never have I such a rejection, bordering on hatred, as I see today for Bush.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bushhaters; dday; eurotwits
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-51 next last
1
posted on
06/06/2004 8:13:29 PM PDT
by
quidnunc
To: quidnunc
Yow! Here's a barf-bag filler for ya...
"Their [the D-Day troops] sacrifice made it possible for Europeans to celebrate the peaceful unification of Europe under the blue flag of liberty..."
On second thought, better get two barf-bags to finish the article.
2
posted on
06/06/2004 8:17:13 PM PDT
by
WorkingClassFilth
(I'm neither a Papist or Reaganite, but today, I mourn the passing of another age...)
To: quidnunc; longtermmemmory; Indie; shaggy eel
"According to polls, a majority of European youths don't even know what "D-Day" is."
It's a shame that so many of them are fatherless due to the liberation of their parents--mostly mothers--from marriages.
3
posted on
06/06/2004 8:19:35 PM PDT
by
familyop
(Essayons)
To: quidnunc
I have no use for the Eurotrash. President Bush's big mistake in my considered opinion, was in not telling Chirac we'll disinter our war dead and bring them home. If it upset our French hosts, so be it. I don't give a damn about angering them when they hate us in their guts anyway. Its time to put America first.
4
posted on
06/06/2004 8:19:51 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
To: quidnunc
I hope all Americans stay away from Europe this summer.They LOVE our money,but they don't like our president.
Tough!!!!
5
posted on
06/06/2004 8:25:42 PM PDT
by
Mears
To: quidnunc
Ugly Americans? I heard that the women of France were grateful for no longer having to call their best lovers "Yank" instead of "Mein Herr".
6
posted on
06/06/2004 8:26:12 PM PDT
by
Mad_Tom_Rackham
(Any day you wake up is a good day.)
To: quidnunc
The Europeans simply do not want to face up to the fact that many unilateralist trends they attribute to Bush started long before Bush was elected - the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol by the Senate under Bill Clinton is one of many such examples. No they prefer to see it in black and white, good and evil, that everything was great before Bush and horrible after. They hate the fact that he sees things clearly in terms of good and evil, when they are doing the EXACT SAME THING TO HIM THAT THEY CLAIM TO DESPISE ABOUT HIM. Their Axis of Evil just happens to be Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld.
7
posted on
06/06/2004 8:26:48 PM PDT
by
RobFromGa
(The Four Pillars of America; Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Reagan)
To: quidnunc
Even those Europeans who still feel indebted to America take great pains to distinguish between the United States they respect ? that of Roosevelt, Clinton or Kerry Ronald Reagan is conspicuous in his omission. The Cold War would still be continuing if DemocRATS had been in power during the eighties.
8
posted on
06/06/2004 8:27:03 PM PDT
by
Paleo Conservative
(Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
To: Paleo Conservative
I'm sure it was just an oversight. The IHNYTimes would NEVER want to miss an opportunity to credit Reagan for his accomplishments. (sarcasm)
9
posted on
06/06/2004 8:37:28 PM PDT
by
LibertarianInExile
(<--Outsourced myself. The first $70K in income is IRS free!)
To: quidnunc
Of course there is a good deal to criticize about Bush... Statements like "you are either with me or against me" do not leave much room for planning... Uh, 'scuse me... when, exactly, did George Bush say that? Was it back there during those 14 solid months he spent before the Iraq war trying to get the UN and Old Europe on board?
10
posted on
06/06/2004 8:39:52 PM PDT
by
Starve The Beast
(I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused)
To: quidnunc
Oh face it, they hate Bush the same way they hated Reagan. Just because they have a serious deficit of testosterone on that continent, it's not our fault.
Pull our troops out of old europe and be done with the euroscum.
11
posted on
06/06/2004 8:39:53 PM PDT
by
McGavin999
(If Kerry can't deal with the "Republican Attack Machine" how is he going to deal with Al Qaeda)
To: quidnunc
Europe is weak because Europeans are weak. When was the last time France or Germany liberated any other country?
12
posted on
06/06/2004 8:42:34 PM PDT
by
jess35
To: quidnunc
This guy should be told not put quotes around something George W. Bush never said:
"you are either with me or against me"
This is what he said:
"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"
13
posted on
06/06/2004 8:49:50 PM PDT
by
MJY1288
(Dubya Loves his Country and All Who Defends Her, While the Democrats Jeopardize it for Legal Tender)
To: jess35
When was the last time France or Germany liberated any other country? Countries were only liberated by having those two forced-out of them.
14
posted on
06/06/2004 8:51:52 PM PDT
by
solitas
To: quidnunc
Notice where Lellouche wrote, "'W' summarizes everything post-modern Europe hates: religious faith, nationalism (even patriotism), reliance on military force (instead of international law), unilateralism instead of collective decision-making."
For any of you who might not have figured it out, they hate us (and not only our President) because of our religious faith and national independence. They complain about our military willingness and capability for obvious reasons.
And where he wrote,
"The explosion of anti-U.S. feeling is the crudest expression of the realization that perhaps the destinies of America and Europe have separated for good."
Oh, no. We'll meet again.
So, friends, who among you are politically independent for now? Do you want your personal lives to be ruled by the Euro-pagans? If not, you'd better vote for George W. Bush. If you haven't figured it out, yet, Kerry will repay the Euro-propaganda campaign by handing our lives and lands over to the Europeans--those who will most likely control the UN even more in the future. Private ownership of anything may quickly become a concept of the past.
I'm about as financially poor as a dog for now but will try to get all the way to the Post Office (long way) and put a poor man's check in the mail to Marc's office for the Bush Campaign tomorrow.
15
posted on
06/06/2004 8:55:56 PM PDT
by
familyop
(Essayons)
To: quidnunc
...am working on a rough draft right now for a piece to pull votes in from a large narrow interest group, too.
16
posted on
06/06/2004 8:57:49 PM PDT
by
familyop
(Essayons)
To: familyop; goldstategop; Indie; jess35; LibertarianInExile; longtermmemmory; Mad_Tom_Rackham; ...
Hard though it is, we need to keep in mind that Europe is of many different opinions, and that the current single party state parties -- single party rule is the result of any parliamentary system -- are dominated by cop-beaters like Schroeder and Saddam's buddies like Chirac. That won't last. The EU is going to be coming apart when the eastern European population begins to rise with an improving economy, and they find out they're not getting fair representation.
George W. Bush will win reelection by a margin of at least ten per cent.
posted to: familyop; goldstategop; Indie; jess35; LibertarianInExile; longtermmemmory; Mad_Tom_Rackham; McGavin999; Mears; MJY1288; Paleo Conservative; quidnunc; RobFromGa; Starve The Beast; shaggy eel; solitas; ValerieUSA; WorkingClassFilth
17
posted on
06/06/2004 9:00:16 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
To: quidnunc; devolve; MeekOneGOP; potlatch; Happy2BMe
George W. Bush Will Triumph Over Evil - 2004
18
posted on
06/06/2004 9:01:29 PM PDT
by
Smartass
( BUSH & CHENEY IN 2004 - Si vis pacem, para bellum - Por el dedo de Dios se escribió.)
To: Mears
I hope all Americans stay away from Europe this summer.
The blue jean millionnaires of the entertainment industry will go there and stay there -- trash like the Dixie Bitches, Madoffa, Gwyneth "SUV Hypocrite" Paltry, and Johnny "Ira Einhorn" Depp. People who actually work for a living will probably stay away in droves. Also, when the US removes its NATO contingent from Germany, the German economy will take yet another hit, and yet another fascist regime will have been brought down by US action.
George W. Bush will win reelection by a margin of at least ten per cent.
19
posted on
06/06/2004 9:06:21 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
To: MJY1288
Love your tagline! -- "Dubya Loves his Country and All Who Defends Her, While the Democrats Jeopardize it for Legal Tender"
20
posted on
06/06/2004 9:07:57 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-51 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson