"France Says, Love the U.S., Hate Its Chief" NYT Great Article

[malachibk]

"The fact is, whether France likes it or not, Mr. Bush cannot be distinguished from America. He has the support of roughly half the United States. His may not be the America of New York or San Francisco, the America of Michael Moore or Woody Allen, but it is a much larger America than the one portrayed by these two moviemakers."

"This America believes it is doing God's will in fighting for freedom. It equates pacifism with decline. It supports the death penalty, low taxes and the right to bear arms."

"It is skeptical of subtle arguments, wondering what they really mean. It holds that action is American and that failure to support the president in wartime is un-American. It even believes the president when he says the war in Iraq is linked to the heroism of D-Day because today's war is also a response to an attack on America and also about "the forward march of freedom."

"Of course, there is another big slice of America, the one closer to the French idea of the American soul, that loathes Mr. Bush. This America is appalled by the war in Iraq, unsurprised by untruths used to justify war and worried about a leader who so regularly invokes the will of the Almighty. It is disdainful of the president's stumbling locution, angered by the detentions without counsel or trial in Guantánamo and elsewhere, aghast at the notion that the country may just face four more years with Mr. Bush."

The whole article is well written and thoughtful. Just thought I'd share it.

[silverweb]

1. Looks great.

Link, please?

[malachibk]

2. Oops, my bad:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/weekinreview/06cohe.html?8hpib

[silverweb]

3. Thank you!

:hi:

[OpSomBlood]

4. The right to bear arms far predates Bush.

n/t

[LittleApple81]

5. Now I know where his remark about not two countries USA and France

but USA and Texas... Have you seen the Texas GOP platform???? Somebody posted excerpts on DU and I thought it was written by the poster as irony, parody, and/or sarcam.... but is real. TEXAS IS A DIFFERENT COUNTRY...I hope.
Here is the post with the excerpts:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1733036#1733138

[Eric J in MN]

6. The article makes no sense.

First ROGER COHEN writes:

Of course, there is another big slice of America, the one closer to the French idea of the American soul, that loathes Mr. Bush. This America is appalled by the war in Iraq, unsurprised by untruths used to justify war and worried about a leader who so regularly invokes the will of the Almighty. It is disdainful of the president's stumbling locution, angered by the detentions without counsel or trial in Guantánamo and elsewhere, aghast at the notion that the country may just face four more years with Mr. Bush.

Then he writes:

Bush is America, just as Chirac is France. The two nations' highest offices represent every shade of opinion that makes up their democracies. No separate national essence exists.


-----------------
MY OPINION:

Bush isn't America. Bush is a crook who stole an election by preventing black voters in Florida from voting by having them labelled "suspected felons."

500,000 more people voted for Al Gore, and Al Gore but represents America than Bush.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I do get tired of people thinking

that those of us living in the middle of the country think Shrub is God and that we totally support the war. Sorry. I've lived in Illinois, in the part called Egypt, and I can tell you NO LOVE is lost for Bush there. Now I live in Arkansas, and we have had protests and demos since before the war began.

There are some who think that Midwesterners and Southerners are dolts, mindlessly following the GOP. Far, far from the truth.

[napi21]

8. I know some of them are real people, but

it sure appears that the majority in the South and mid section of America aren't like you. I live in Ga. I can guarantee you, I am the minority here!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Not where I live

we have two anti-Bush groups in Newton County-one consisting of environmentalists/peace activists/old hippies who protested before the war, the other a group of retirees, many of whom were Republicans, who are so mad at Bush they have protested-most for the first time in their lives!

[napi21]

10. Ohhh, I hope you are right! Nothing would be better than

Shrub losing in a landslide in Nov. and shutup the very vocal sheeple who claim to be the majority!

[grasswire]

11. a pile of words

His premise that half of America supports Bush and his policies and therefore until the election Bush IS America and France shouldn't consider him a bad representative of a good people is flawed.

The flaw is this: the half of America allegedly supporting Bush is propagandized, ignorant, or disengaged.

If all Americans were fully informed about the actions of Bushco, a truer picture of support of the people for him and his policies would emerge.

We must learn to qualify the numbers. We must say "Half of the American people repudiate Bush. An unknown additional percentage would join them if they were fully informed."

[Laughing Mirror]

12. Exactly

But don't expect this from the editorial page of the New York Times when that paper is itself a propaganda organ of big business and part of the problem why so many people still apparently support Bush, and are ignorant as you say and disengaged.

This is the real story, and this is what France, with a real free press, understands.