July 24, 2004

ISN'T BUSH SUPPOSED TO BE THE HALF-COCKED COWBOY?:

Chirac's Outbursts Worry World Leaders (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 7/24/04)

Iraq is the obvious issue, but underlying it is something much more basic to the French -- a sense that their global leadership role, and even their identity, is being submerged in the united 25-nation European superstate they themselves worked to build.

Many believe Chirac, 72 and eligible to run for another term in 2007, is focusing on world affairs to counter growing support for his ambitious young economy minister, Nicolas Sarkozy.

``A very deep gulf is widening across the Atlantic,'' Jean-Dominique Guiliani of the Robert Schuman Foundation told The Associated Press in Paris.

It's ironic, considering that Chirac is probably the most America-friendly French leader in modern times. Unlike his predecessors, he doesn't mind speaking English in public, and he loves to reminisce about his time in New York as a young man, working as a soda jerk.


No, that was "sorta"

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 24, 2004 8:45 PM
Comments

If Chirac is the most America-friendly French leader, I'm glad I wasn't paying attention to the others.

Posted by: pj at July 24, 2004 10:36 PM

Agreed PJ - it's hard to believe anyone could be more anti-american than Chirac.

Posted by: AWW at July 24, 2004 11:02 PM

No doubt, some of his best friends are Jewish, too.

Posted by: Barry Meislin at July 25, 2004 2:11 AM

He once was a jerk, but--no, forget it.

Posted by: Mike Morley at July 25, 2004 8:56 AM

A drowning man is not always rational. France, no less Chirac, seems to be struggling
with a strange form of suicide.

Posted by: genecis at July 25, 2004 9:35 AM

What's strange about it--it's just secularism's natural outcome, an overweaning focus on self.

Posted by: oj at July 25, 2004 10:27 AM

Actually, given Chirac's legal and political problems, he would do well to emigrate to the US after he retires. He could do worse than living on a ranch in the West.

Posted by: jim hamlen at July 25, 2004 11:16 AM

Not only would we extradite him but George W. Bush would borrow his Dad's speedboat to deliver him personally.

Posted by: oj at July 25, 2004 11:27 AM
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