Bush in Europe, but still an ocean apart

[rodeodance]

http://www.sundayherald.com/47854
Bush in Europe, but still an ocean apart
20 February 2005


Tonight the US President arrives to bury the hatchet over Iraq … but behind the smiles a deep enmity continues to grow. Angus Roxburgh reports from Brussels


President George W Bush arrives in Brussels tonight hoping to get his second administration off to a good start in Europe. Transatlantic relations reached their lowest ebb for generations after the dispute over the war in Iraq, so the stakes are high.

Every word on the president’s autocue for his keynote speech tomorrow will have been sweated over by a vast team of advisers. All Bush has to do is read them with sufficient sincerity and, he hopes, Europe will be back on track.

The reality, behind the scenes in his private meetings with French President Jacques Chirac and other European leaders on Monday and Tuesday, may be rather less rosy. For while both sides are keen to improve relations, many disagreements remain and many Europeans are still deeply sceptical about whether, given another situation like Iraq in future, the US would be any more willing to listen to European views than it was last time around.......

[cornermouse]

1. Quick! Lock up the borders! Don't let him back in!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. any chance

he'll be extradited to Germany to face war crimes charges?

[AZCat]

3. All the advisors in the world could review his speech...

and it wouldn't do any good. Bush and his cronies don't seem to grasp that a good chunk of the world (including many Americans) don't agree with his policies and that all the pretty speeches in the world aren't going to breach that gap. His policies suck, and we know it. After all, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

But he tries to sell it like it is something beneficial to us - he uses words like "bipartisan", "coalition", etc - without compromising any of his goals. It's like an abusive husband thinking that the solution to fixing the relationship lies in more beatings.

[cliss]

9. I agree.

What does he think he's going to accomplish? Except piss people off more than they already are. He's going over there to strut, throw his weight around, make 'em reel skeered.

Being the complete failure that he is, the Europeans will see right through his charade. He'll just make things worse -- rubbing salt in the wounds, as I see it.

But now I'm wondering: why is he even going over there? What does he need Europe for? Just because relations are at an all-time low, so what. What does Bush care?

Or is the Bush Junta worried about NATO?

[MuseRider]

4. He can speak as

sincerely as possible but being a sincere asshole is his main problem. Being sincere about the wrong things will not help him, most humanity it seems is sincerely against him.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

5. I'll be in Europe in a couple of weeks and I'm so relieved

that he won't be there while I am visiting. When I booked the trip it dawned on me that this could happen and it would just be a huge embarrassment. Like I would be on the defensive and have to keep explaining to people that I am not a part of THAT. As it is, I'll carry some of that guilt and I'll probably be neurotic and apologetic all over the place! Groan...why is this monster in the world?

[Tracer]

8. Don't worry, Tinfoil...

... I just returned from an out-of-country vacation spot, where 90% of the people were French. We were a little worried that we would be treated like some kind of cretins, but universally, the French people we spoke to understood that there are different views in the U.S. and they don't blame people like us who didn't vote for SmirkyBoy.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

11. Thanx :)

[Toots]

6. All Bush has to do is read them with sufficient sincerity

I guess it is too much to ask that our President be able to speak off the cuff. Be knowledgeable on the subjects entertained and show common courtesy. Is that really too much to ask of the Leader of the Free world?

[ashmanonar]

10. wouldn't it be nice to have a president who was genuinely intelligent?

ya know, someone who holds a vast store of personal knowledge in his/her head? who can just talk to anybody and get hte point across without a teleprompter? it's like we're working with a trained chimp! oh wait...

[MasonJar]

7. Please, you ask too much. Next you will be admonishing Bush

to speak to the French in French, and when he is trying so hard to speak broken English....cutting back on his grammatical gaffs and his malapropisms.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Speaking French to the French is so, "intercontinental", dontcha know?

http://202.221.217.59/print/opinion/ed2004/ed20040627a1.htm

[tabasco]

12. Fake Cowboy will look into their eyes and see their souls.

Then he will get the soulmates to join the coalition.

It sounds absurd but this is not far from the planned agenda. They really think Bush can use his "plain spoken" charm to woo European leaders. Of course, the only thing Bush will do is further embarrass the USA and worsen relations.

[Magleetis]

14. Is it really that easy?

Booosh goes over to Europe and spews some of his usual BS, then everything is OK? I have faith that Europe is smarter than that. His arrogance knows no bounds.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

15. I wonder if someone in the administration...

Pays blair to babysit bush every now and then? Putting on the mickey mouse cap and giving him a pat on the back as bush frolics about inanely, and then they relax from the stress of being the guardian of a complete and total idiot?

Wouldn't surprise me if someone in the administration gives bush the big idea to go to england and push his ideas just so they can better influence their total BS back at home, where you know, being president of the united states kinda matters more than hounding britain.