Bush Conquers England "Liberation is still a moral goal."

WSJ ^ | Friday, November 21, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST | WSJ Staff

[FlyLow]

We suspect that President Bush's London visit this week will go down as one of the most memorable of his tenure, and not because of the protests everyone had predicted. Rather, it will be remembered for the speech he delivered Wednesday in which he eloquently laid down the principles behind the war on terror, and especially the Iraq portion of that war. In its timing and character, Mr. Bush's speech at Whitehall echoed Ronald Reagan's exposition of America's Cold War principles during his famous speech to Parliament in 1982. That speech too was delivered at a moment of enormous Western debate and protest. Soviet Communism, Mr. Reagan nonetheless correctly foretold at Westminster, will be consigned to "the ash heap of history." Middle East dictatorships, Mr. Bush said this week, have the opportunity to join the "democratic revolution that has reached much of the world."

[FlyLow]

GWB is getting a lot of "atta-boys" from the press...about time!

[Loyal Buckeye]

Pres. Bush gave a tremendous speech. Too bad the networks saw fit to give greater coverage to Michael Jackson than the speech.

[Clara Lou]

So many Bush-haters must be having an Alka Seltzer moment.

[1rudeboy]

Bush was supposed to embarrass us before the world.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

In his Whitehall speech, Mr. Bush continued his recent (and welcome) effort to focus on the battle of ideas behind the war on terror. In this he echoed Prime Minister Tony Blair's words to the U.S. Congress in July: "Our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs." Mr. Bush's Administration--his Pentagon--has been more effective at killing and disrupting the terrorists than his State Department has been at promoting an alternative vision to the Mideast status quo. Mr. Bush is now taking up the latter task himself, and without moral apology.

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[MEG33]

I was impressed by his speech..I heard Michael Barone praising it this morning.I think going to Great Britain was a wise thing to do now,although it made me nervous.

[Carolina]

When we were in the UK this past summer and early fall, we didn't encounter the anti-American feeling among the "regular" people that we were sure to run into. To be sure, the Beeb and ITV were constantly bashing America.

The only one we ran into who had negative American feelings was a Turk running his own fish and chips stand. He said, "America is weird. It's violent." I told him not to believe everything he heard.

[maica]

It only took the promise of 100,000 anti-Bush protestors to get the American media to carry the President's words into American homes.

[southernnorthcarolina]

"It is not realism to suppose that one-fifth of humanity is unsuited to liberty; it is pessimism and condescension, and we should have none of it." -- President George W. Bush, London, November 18, 2003

A truly great line, in my opinion. Interesting how much of the liberal agenda, both domestic and international, is in fact based on pessimism and condescention. This group can't compete without affirmative action; that group is incapable of meeting its own medical needs; an industry will collapse, and its workers and investors will be unable to adapt, unless we build high tariff walls; and so on. Liberals need a dependent underclass (whether we're talking about people, industries, or even other nations), and their policies are designed to perpetuate that situation.

I'd like to see the "pessimism and condescention" statement used as a centerpiece of the GOP's 2004 campaign.

[Carolinamom]

Very well stated. I agree w/you. Bush's speech surpasses ANYTHING I have heard from his critics. They are the ones bereft of ideas, morals, or patriotism. This coming Monday night, once again the dem pigmy candidates will repeat ad nauseam their only "thought" that they hate Bush, trying to outdo each other in their vitriolic pronouncements.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Valin]

Any similarity between the editorial page of the Wall Street journal and the "media" is purely coincidental.

Example: the day of this speech Nightline devoted their show to Michael Jackson.

[blackie]

Bush Conquers England ~ Bump!

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[RottiBiz]

Kudos to the WSJ Staff!

An excellent review of an historic speech.

I was so glad I was able to hear the President and Prime Minister speak yesterday morning because, with the exception of Brit Hume, every channel all night long was obsessing over a wierdo entertainer.

[longtermmemmory]

Somehow Euronews and CNNeurope missed this. They did get extensive coverage of the protesters. Especially focusin on the american leftists abroad. The left hates it when liberty succeeds.

[PhilDragoo]

His critics have yet to offer anything close to a competing vision.

The vision of MoveOn, ANSWER, ACT, the Nine Mondales, the french, Kofi Asinine et al is that of Neville's Nellies:

We'll feed the crocodile in hopes he'll eat us last.

[MEG33]

How true,how true.

[lainde]

ditto

[sofaman]

Turkey isn't exactly a bed of roses now is it?

Must be Bush's fault too...