http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/2004_County_Results_Final.html
Posted on 11/19/2004 11:14:05 AM PST by quidnunc
In light of how the media and political elites in Europe continue to denounce the war in Iraq and openly criticize the reelection of President George W. Bush, it is surprising that their reaction to the replacement of Secretary of State Colin Powell with Condoleezza Rice has been so favorable. After all, Powell was widely regarded in Europe as the single moderate voice in an administration of hawks.
Despite the positive remarks about Condoleezza Rice from German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and his French counterpart Michel Barnier, it is important not to underestimate the depth of anti-Americanism in Europe and its impact on U.S. foreign policy around the world.
-snip-
It is important to understand that modern American conservatism has no equivalent in Europe and has never been accepted as legitimate in European intellectual circles, which are monolithically both secular and liberal. There is no National Review or Weekly Standard, no talk radio personalities or Fox News to challenge the liberal orthodoxy. Serious ideological diversity among think-tanks and political foundations in any European country is negligible.
Just how much influence do these opinion shapers have? The Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Survey from March this year noted that "solid majorities in France and Germany believe the U.S. is conducting the war on terrorism in order to control Mideast oil and dominate the world." In Turkey "as many as 31 percent say that suicide attacks against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable." Turkey is important, because it stayed out of the coalition in Iraq and we know whose club it wants to join.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at techcentralstation.com ...
Uh, do we give a ....
I think we should wear it as a badge of honor.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/2004_County_Results_Final.html
Are we supposed to care what Europeans think...I believe such thoughts were settled 228 years ago (1776). Still, it is ironic that "Cultured Civilized Europe" comes crying to US when some powder keg blows in its backyard (Bosnia)>...
The armies of "Old Europe" combined are, I understand, only a small fraction of the US military forces.
When we feel threatened, they can't help us, even if they wanted to.
When they feel threatened, they know we will shed blood to defend them - we've done it for a century now.
So they can afford to throw their tantrums and live in their little bubble.
They ignore the realities of world around them, and they can afford to. Like a college kid living in his parents' basement.
They have not "stepped up to the plate" and taken responsibility for security and democracy.
We have.
I don't care what they think of us.
They should feel only shame . . .
Just wait 'till you find out that Germany,France and Russia as well as China are more than mere witnesses in the grandstands. Each have their hands in support of world terrorism and direct complicity in aiding and supplying the enemies we are now fighting.
I care to the extent that we should begin to think of the EU as a potential enemy.
Let them eat cake...
I'm very angry at Europe. But, I think I have a fresh take in that all of these countries that were supposed to be so different after WWII are showing themselves to be just the same nationalistic, socialistic, me-me-me countries they were back in the pre-WWII bad old days. It's a huge disappointment, and I wish it weren't the case. It's like "So This Is How My Grandparents Felt Watching A Major World War Brewing And Nobody Seeming To Be Able To Do A Thing To Stop It." Except for us, and I fear we aren't going to be able to prevent it starting, though I'm damned confident we will FINISH IT.
Waiting for the media to take polls here in America to see what we think of France!
Americans are supposed to put European interests ahead of their own? To ask permission before defending themselves? To apologize for being the world's only superpower? Europe is delusional. In the immortal words of that Francophile, John F...king Kerry, "Sit down and shut up."
France and Germany I hate them I really and truly hate them.
Nobody gives a crap about me hating them any more than I give a crap about them hating us, I am not Jealous like they are ,I just hate folks who are jealous of the USA and call it hate.
"The Europeans....they're always there when they need us."
He makes a good point. Outside the US there is no equivalent to the Republican Party. In any typical country, the left party and the right party would both fit comfortably within our Democratic Party.
What passes for "conservatism" in Europe and in Latin America is the traditionalist meaning of the word. So-called "Christian Democrats" are what passes for conservatives, and they are conservative in the sense that they see themselves as culturally western, and tend to be marginally more nationalist than the more left leaning socialists. But Christian Democrats are still socialists. They still favor central control of the economy, and accept most of the presumptions of the welfare state.
As a consequence, there is no basis for understanding there of traditional Americanism. They accept the leftist analysis of who we are without a second thought. If it is so hard for conservatives to get a fair hearing in the press in the US, where they are half the electorate, it should be no surprise that they get no hearing at all outside the US. It should be no surprise then that Europe and the rest of the world consistently misread out motives, and consistently get it wrong.
Europe and Islam are reminding me more and more of the "bug planet" from Starship Troopers.
So, Europeans don't know how to use the internet? Or is it that socialism has so rotted their brains that they don't know how to, nor care to, think for themselves?
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.