Fmr President & Senator Polnut
polnut
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Posts: 19,489
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E: -2.71, S: -5.22
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« on: August 16, 2006, 10:00:46 PM » |
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On topic - Cheney would NEVER run, he's even more unpopular than Bush, plus his heart would leap out of his chest and start hitting Dick in the head should he even consider it. Plus a war with Iran would be an act rampant stupidity, even without the Iraq debacle.
I would like to speak to the idea that Europeans are anti-American. I'm Australian, and have visited both areas often.
If I were to paint with a broad brush - I would say that many Europeans find America's culture very difficult to understand, actually they understand it, don't understand how anyone could actually like it.
It does have a lot to do with the leadership. Watch shows like Not the Nine O'Clock News from the early 80s, and the feelings toward Reagan (this is long before Glastnost and Perestkroika) were very similar to those now toward Bush. This is largely to do with leaders who were very very big military spenders, who spoke in generalisations and who weren't regarded as being terribly bright.
I think many around the WORLD were kind of shocked that the US (as is their right, of course) went from an articulate, detail oriented, Rhodes scholar (I think only in America would his personal life have been the issue it was) to this guy from a rich family, who is percieved as only getting anywhere because of nepotism, who trips over a simple sentence. Maybe to Americans thats endearing to the rest of the world that is terrifying.
People forget that Europe has a long cultural memory - they have been fighting each other for centuries and know the dangers of war talk. Remember Europe has been left in ruins twice in the last century because of war and militarism. While, I'm sure there were benevolent intentions, the actual adoption of things like the Marshall Plan were primarily done to avoid a complete Soviet take-over of the European continent.
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