"Guardian" Devils
By now, you've probably heard about the "Guardian" election preview column that solicited the assassination of President Bush. I can't link you to it anymore, because they've pulled it, but this was the offending final graph:
Hinckley, of course, didn't finish the job. Typical British socialist: no incentive to succeed; you make the A-team of U.S. assassins simply for showing up at the office and filling out the form.
And even the legendarily stupid GWB knows that if the president is assassinated, the vice president takes over. Something I'm sure this over-educated European failed to consider.
But there actually was a line I liked in the column, further up, before they pulled it. Describing John Kerry's appearance in the debates, the writer said he "looked like a haunted tree."
Meanwhile, Mark Steyn offers his take on the flap, which includes an excursion into why the Europeans who are avoiding the Iraq War aren't worth the effort to bring on board, in practical military terms:
I have heard that many people in power in France actually were looking forward to joining the U.S. on this excursion, before their diplomats made that impossible. The French still have an interest in being a fighting force. And to do that in the modern world, you have to know how to interface with U.S. military equipment, and you have to have some experience in joint maneuvers with U.S. troops.
"On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?"
Hinckley, of course, didn't finish the job. Typical British socialist: no incentive to succeed; you make the A-team of U.S. assassins simply for showing up at the office and filling out the form.
And even the legendarily stupid GWB knows that if the president is assassinated, the vice president takes over. Something I'm sure this over-educated European failed to consider.
But there actually was a line I liked in the column, further up, before they pulled it. Describing John Kerry's appearance in the debates, the writer said he "looked like a haunted tree."
Meanwhile, Mark Steyn offers his take on the flap, which includes an excursion into why the Europeans who are avoiding the Iraq War aren't worth the effort to bring on board, in practical military terms:
Now suppose Belgium took the opposite position and decided it wholeheartedly supported the Iraq war and stood 100 per cent shoulder to shoulder with its American friends in the battle for freedom: in that case, they'd have dispatched a rusting frigate to, oh, the eastern Mediterranean or maybe 30 of their elderly infantrymen to help run the canteen in Qatar. That, too, would have been an empty gesture.
That's why, whoever's president, the September 10 international system can't be put back together. The Cold War required deterrence, which is about as suited to a passivist European culture as can be devised, and even then there were plenty of wobbly moments.
I have heard that many people in power in France actually were looking forward to joining the U.S. on this excursion, before their diplomats made that impossible. The French still have an interest in being a fighting force. And to do that in the modern world, you have to know how to interface with U.S. military equipment, and you have to have some experience in joint maneuvers with U.S. troops.
