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It is not true. Kerry is a traitor and he has betrayed our brave young men and women in the troop and he will do it again! If he will be loved by the world it would be because he is a VC sympathiser! Why people don’t get this form our greatest President?

If Our Great President Bush is hated by the world, it is only because he has got it right, against all odd and stupid French!

[Sorry. I pressed the post instead of preview in my last message]

It is not true. Kerry is a traitor and he has betrayed our brave young men and women in the troop and he will do it again! He will be loved by the world because he was a VC sympathiser and will be a terrorist sympathiser ! Why people don’t get this form our greatest President?

If Our Great President Bush is hated by the world, it is only because he has got it right, against all odd and stupid French!

The bitterness in politics relly began to surface during the early 1990s. I don’t think that it was the election of Mr. Clinton so much as we began to lose congressmen that had learned to work with one-another to make the deal. As a moderate democrat, I have voted for the likes of Bush Sr., and Bob Dole, while supporting the policies of Clinton, and democratic party. Would one lable me as a flip-flopper, or someone who listens, evaluates, and acts?

Why has the volume of discourse, and accusation gotten so loud in the past 15 years or so? It’s mainly because we have lost so many of the deal makers that understood that comprimise allows our country to move forward. Is it possible that these men, many of which fought in WWII, and Korea, came to understand that the needs of America outweigh the Republican or Democratic party platforms. Take a look at the present members of congress. How many of them have ever served on active duty? My guess that a greater number of them spent most of their younger years avoiding military service at all cost. Let’s face it….you can’t get rich in uniform!

Let’s look at some moderate Republicans that would win in landslides: John MaCain, or Collin Powell. Why didn’t either one of these individuals become annointed by the GOP? My Republican friends say they aren’t real Republicans. Yes they are, but they remember to be American’s first. These are the sort of men that should be heading up political tickets.

All I hear at work is: “Kerry want’s to take away my guns.” and “Bush want’s to force my kids to pray.”. If we can’t get past these sort of hot button issues from the extream ends of the two parties, how are we going to get the work of America done.

Ask yourself one of these questions as it applies:

As a Republican, is there anything that you could agree with John Kerry on if he were elected to the presidency, and are there things that you think George Bush is wrong about?

As a Democrat, is there anything that you agree with George W. about, while thinking that John K. is wrong on a particular issue.

If you can’t answer “yes” to these questions as an American first, then my guess is that you are part of the problem we are having in politics today.

Roy

I agree.

Almost half of us better start thinking about what we like about Kerry/Bush because one of them will win.

One would hope that Maggie is not indicative of the right in America.

If she is and Kerry won god help us all.

Rocky, I don’t know about you but I don’t understand what the heck Maggie was talking about.

-Cf

Jack —

Bush’s, and by extention, our, popularity in the world has much less to do with what Kerry says than you think. First of all, people in the rest of the world began disliking Bush while Rove and Co were using the war drums to silence any American dissent. Second of all, you’re giving the rest of the world very little credit by implying that they can’t understand the political process.

On the other hand, I would certainly welcome civility in discourse. Things probably won’t change, though, since politicians have been dragging each others’ names through the mud since the very first election and Americans seem to LOVE confrontation. (How many reality shows are there now where the confrontations are clearly forced for our amusement?)

On a slight tangent, my area just recently got an Air America station. I tuned in, hoping to hear an alternative to the aggressive blowhards like Rush, and got nothing but aggressive liberal blowhards. The first interview I heard was a commentator named Randi Rhoads talking to Richard Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss was thoughtful and Rhoads was vitriolic. When Dreyfuss suggested that calling Bush an idiot was not a way to sway anyone’s opinion, Rhoads lambasted him for telling her how to run her show.

Which just goes to show, liberals are no better than conservatives.

As a foriegner here, I must state that you have a simplistic view of the world. Are Canadians included in your List? Are Englishmen? Nice of you to mention the French. As if France were the only country who opposed Iraq. Nice of you to equate anti-Bush with anti-US as well. The Truth is that practically the entire planet has a poor opinion of George Bush including ENGLAND, POLAND, JAPAN and the rest of your Coalition of the Willing.

The people of the world do not depend on the dubious value of American Entertainment to know America. We read, we watch and we learn. I watched Colin Powell wave a white vial crying “Anthrax” to the Security Council. I watched George Bush tell the UN to do as he says or become “irrelevant”. I particularly watched while Americans called the French “cheese eating surrender monkeys”. How many called the Spanish Cowards when they withdrew their troops? Will you call the British Cowards when they pull back? Tell me, did Chirac offer Bush Freedom Fries when Bush asked for French Troops for Iraq?

I am a Filipino and I KNOW what you called us when we withdrew one month early from Iraq. I did not need any pundit to tell me about it!!!

The way the World sees you is based on how you behave. NOT on how your Politicians talk to each other. We are all neighbors and like all neighbors we know about each other. You would know more about Poland’s Elections too if you wanted to. It is not OUR fault that so many Americans can’t even identify their own country on the map. Your lack of curiousity is your weakness. Did you ever consider that the reason France objected to invading Iraq is because they know more about the place and its people?

I find your stereotype of foriegners to be offensive and insulting. The Worldview of the US only started to nosedive AFTER Bush became President. Clinton and Bush Sr. were highly respected overseas.

Aldous.

Alejo

When I talked to friends overseas in 1997, the first thing they asked me was whether our president (Clinton back then) was really a sex offender. It is not hard to figure out where this piece of news originated. I agree that neither Democrats nor Republicans are blameless and I don’t blame John Kerry especially. As you point out, it is a general malaise. It frustrates me because I don’t think there is anything we can do to solve the problem.

I actually believe that most foreigners do NOT understand the American political. Last year I had lunch with a couple of mid-level Chinese diplomats who were sent by their government to study at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. Despite the fact that they were English speaking “specialists” on America, they told me that only after studying in the U.S. did they understand what plurality in the U.S. really meant. The example they used were critical comments made by Ted Kennedy. Back home, they said, such comments would signal a change in policy or event the danger of a change in government. In the U.S. it was just free speech. Even people who live in democracies usually come from parliamentary systems and don’t understand our system.

Another important factor is psychological. People take comfort in the foibles and travails of the rich and powerful. I was talking to two Arabs. One was telling me how hopelessly corrupt he found U.S. society. The other, more pro-American (or more self aware, jumped in and said something like “remember before we came here people warned us not to try to bribe officials or do a lot of the corrupt things we do at home, besides you really like most of the things you are complaining about.” The other shot back, sure but this is America.

I don’t mean to pile on examples, but I have to give one more. The issue of gay marriage manages to create Anti-Americanism all over the place. People who support gay marriage (mostly in parts of Europe) say something like, “look at those Americans standing in the way of gay marriage.” Religious conservatives say “look at those Americans thinking of allowing the abomination of gay marriage.” So whether we decide yes or no, or don’t decide at all, we prove to everyone what they already thought about us.

Alejo,
I wasn’t supprised to find that Air America wasn’t any different than the other talking bozos on the radio. The only difference is that there are more of the other bozos.
American media is all about ratings. Controversy sells for some reason. It could have to do with the fact that Americans are voyers. We don’t do, we watch.
Everyone bitches about the content on TV, but dutifly tune in to see the horrors of reality television.
Pro Wrestling is real after all, isn’t it?

Hey you guys are from America…

Come one lets get to the real issues!

What’s the surf look like at Mavericks when it’s breaking over 20ft?????

Love from Australia!

The United States is a family. We may argue with each other but man, you don’t want to mess with any of us. We may disagree with each other but when it comes down to it we will defend that fellow American even though we don’t like their views.

The U.S. is not the only country who has two sided governments with strong opposing views where they don’t seem to be able to accomplish anything. It causes divide in those countries just the same as it does here. Maybe if our Senate had a good food fight once in awhile it might help.

Speaking of radio.
Once in awhile I can get one of those stations that does foreign news, editorials and discussions.
Yesterday I was listening.
They announced that an essay from a Spanish Professor was about to be read. It was on the subject of how America is viewed and who would do a better job fixing it. I expected the man to say Kerry could do a better job. Basically he said they both could bring America back to the America the world used to know, ONLY he said the way Bush is doing it, it will happen faster. The way Kerry would do it would take much longer and it would be more difficult for him.
I was shocked.

Then there was a story about Iran. It sounded like a positive story. The leader of Iran is ready to negotiate. He was ready to prove to the world that their nuclear program was only going to be used for energy.
He was ready to let inspectors in and open the program to their inspections.
I’m thinking, great, if Iran wants to use nuclear power for electricity no one should stop them. If they can do it safely and are willing to let the world in and show it is not a weapons program, then what’s the problem?
The story ended with word that there is another meeting next month to discuss the details.

Thinking this is a big story, and a good one, I expect to hear something on the news about it. I finally hear something about 5 hours later in a news brief. The story is, Iran refuses to accept the offer from negotiators. Iran still insists that their program is for peaceful means. That they won’t completely stop their enrichment programs and the talks are going nowhere. That there is another meeting scheduled for November.

Now which is it? I don’t know.

It is no different in our country when we get news from around the world. We seem to be told the ‘bad’ stuff by our news people and hardly anything good about other countries.

We rely on these news sources to give us the correct story. In their haste to be ‘the first’ or get the ‘exclusive’ they seem to always leave out the whole story.

How can anyone in the world think they know what is really going on anywhere when we get bits and pieces of stories, usually with opinion thrown in.

I especially like the ones where it is ‘breaking news’.
‘This is going on right now, we think this happened, but as the story develops we will get the details out to you.’

Hey you guys are from America…

Come on lets get to the real issues!

What’s the surf look like at Mavericks when it’s breaking over 20ft?????

Love from Australia!

Jack —

I don’t think there’s anything we can do to solve the problem either, except perhaps to improve the quality of education in the country so there will eventually be fewer people who think Jerry Springer is God.

As for the rest of the world understanding our political system, that’s not really what I meant. They probably understand ours slightly better than we understand theirs, which is to say not well at all. What I meant was that people do understand that there is an election on and that the candidates won’t be singing each others’ praises. Your post seemed to suggest (although your followup cleared that up) that it was Kerry’s fault Bush was unpopular. The fact is, it’s Bush’s fault he’s unpopular.

Rocky —

I’d be lying if I said I was surprised at the “in your face” nature of Air America. But I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. Guess I’ll stick to NPR.

As for dutifully tuning in, I guess that’s just our culture (or lack of it). A few years ago I was asked to keep a Nielsen log and when I realized there wouldn’t be anything in it since I rarely watch television, I began putting in programs I thought I SHOULD have watched. Guess I didn’t have much impact since Big Brother is still on the air….

Jack
Thanks for a post that should make us think.
Roy made some great points also. I agree and disagree with both Bush and kerry and will stand proud as an American no matter who is elected.

As far as stereotyping foriegners, I dont believe you were striving for that. Other countries have no idea what it is like to be an American and benefit from our form of govt. This was yet just another anti-Bush jab.

With this post, you have shown yourself to be a much better man on this issue than I am.
After living in europe for over 10 years of my life and seeing all their hate America firsthand, I have developed a narrowminded and wrong position towards other country’s.
I could care less about other country’s. Their opinions mean nothing to me and they deserve no say or respect when it comes to how we run our country or pick our leaders. They openly criticize, degrade and insult our country, but have no problem accepting our money and will even beg for our help when they are being bullied by another country.

You took the high road Jack. It’s good to see that people like you, with more understanding, knowledge and compassion, are trying to make sense of this issue.

Thanks for a very thought provoking post.

kctim, because we don’t care what other countries think of us is the reason we are in the mess we’re in.

Jack,

If only everyone was like you America would truly deserve to be the center of attention. You are absolutely right…everyone is watching and everyone is interested to know who will be the President of the strongest nation in the world.

It is in times like this I wonder how President Bush can get away by belittling other nations. Now now … don’t jump to conclusions. It is important for the President to first gain his countrymen’s attention/vote but in the world we live in we simply can’t mock the idea of involving other nations suggestions before taking a decision especially like the ones we did to invade Iraq…that’s right I call it invasion untill GWB can prove it wrong.

In all debates he mocked Kerry about involving other friendly nation’s suggestions on capturing Saddam. Its not that I support Kerry (he has his own faults) but then again I don’t respect a President who can throw his professionalism around when the whole world’s watching and judging this representative of America. This not only forms a character opinion on the Leader but also on his army’s and his country’s.

On to the next topic … why shouldn’t there be an international trial for mis-behaved military personnel? Are we scared our secrets might get out? … Are we scared that we don’t have the depth of training to bring enough character in a soldier?…I assume its because scumbags like these ( http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/10/28/abuse.navy.seals.ap/index.html )navy seals can get away. A Navy SEAL represents not only the highest strength of America but also the highest faith in justice. If this is how our trained personnel treat prisoners then who are we to talk about Saddam’s torture.

Finally, coming to Murphy’s law. If we people in america think … “ah!! we are the strongest nation in this world … and I don’t care what other countrymen think of our remarks of them coz we don’t need em’” … well people … Murphy’s law (“Everything that goes up has to come down”) has proven itself to be true time and again against the strongest, the bravest and the greatest. I think a little modesty and common sense would be a good investment for the future.

Rocky
I admit my view is probably not the correct view to have. I can live with that.
But why is it that a “I love America and America first” view is wrong but yet the “hate America” view is looked at as being right?
Why should we be willing to sacrifice our rules, laws and way of life just to make them like us?

Dean
Your post just scares me. Wow!

kctim, I don’t hate America, I live here.
There are plenty of reasons that some countries should.
We are the only country in the world that will go into a sovergn nation and arrest their leaders.

We have been exploiting other countries resources for a long time.

Where do think the term ugly American came from?

No, I don’t hate America. I just wish we could get our act together.

kctim —

I sure hope that you, of all people, aren’t really suggesting that people who say negative things about Bush “hate America.” Every single person who comes to this site and reads others’ opinions and carefully thinks through their own before posting is someone who loves America. So please don’t make it sound like anti-Bush equals anti-American. Those of us who are anti-Bush feel that way because we believe relieving him of command would be the most American thing we could do right now.

Rocky, Alejo
I never said you hate America. If you are an American, you have every right to feel, say and support any idea you have about America and that should be respected. If it came out opposite, I apologize for that mistake.
I want to know why we cater to the hate America countries moreso than the America first view?
When a country has anti-American views, some make excuses and try to fix blame on America or something that has happened in the past.
Instead of justifying their hatred by blaming ourselves, why can’t we respect their views but yet quit sending them billions of dollars?
The palistien people hate America because of our support for Israel. Fine, respect that. But why keep sending money to a people who cheer when our soldiers die? or to people who cheer the deaths of innocents?

kctim —

Oh, gotcha. I totally misunderstood you. I see your point, definitely. I would like to see a middel ground, where we don’t give money to countries that hate us — let’s not forget the Saudis here — and we don’t piss off everybody who used to like us. Because we’re quickly running out of friends, no matter how many times you count Tony Blair.

Dean.
Scumbag Navy Seals?
Right after that comment you should have been hollering for Kerry’s service record to find out if he really shot and killed a wounded soldier.
Is that not against the Geneva Convention?

How ‘friendly’ is a nation that helped Saddam against the Middle East? Not just us.
How friendly is a nation that removed weapons for Saddam before the War?
Any country that was planning to help Saddam get weapons before the war that could shoot down our airplanes is no friend of mine.
Maybe we all need to step back and look at the whole picture for a minute.
The UN was asked to have those explosives destroyed and refused to do it. The UN is deep in scandal.
Saddam’s Iraq was packed with weapons. Because they were the right kind? There was NO LIMIT to this? As long as they were the right kind?
Did other countries give the U.S. bad info on purpose? Did they know we would remove Saddam based on the info knowing it was the right thing to do and then get blamed when the intelligence was wrong? These countries wanted Saddam gone but not by their own hand? Were they playing both sides because it was to their advantage to do so?
It is not our fault that the motives and actions of other countries are questionable. Why are we not asking them what the hell they thought they were doing? Instead we are trying to understand and fix the reasons they hate U.S.?

I agree that we have to fix things here at home.
I agree that we should not put the views of the foreigners who hate Bush or our country first.

kctim, I agree on most of your points.

The problem is that we also have a tendency to prop up despots. Chile, Iran, Iraq, Viet Nam, Panama, the Palestinians, the Taliban, Bin Laden the list goes on and on.
“They may be despots but their our despots”

Bullshit!

We, the United States have a rep around the world for being in it for ourselves. Of course we do some good things, but only if it is our own self interest.

We need to know who our friends are, but that shouldn’t be hard.
We have so few friends left.

Rocky
I like the despot reference.

“We, the United States have a rep around the world for being in it for ourselves. Of course we do some good things, but only if it is our own self interest.”
- I see nothing wrong with this. What other country gives so much but gets so little in return?

Maybe if they work with us instead of using the aid we give them and working against us, peaceful solutions could be found.
Instead of saying thank you for your aid, we will work even harder to end our struggle, they are marching in support of terrorism and the deaths of innocent people and soldiers.

Just my two cents. I know its not worth much in todays world.

allthetruth,

you said “How friendly is a nation that removed weapons for Saddam before the War?”

I’ll say “Prove it that there exists a country that has the power to move weapons of such magnitude before USA could find it” … when I mentioned investment of “Common Sense” in my first post I was targeting people like you. If Saddam truly had such weapons why didn’t he use them to blast out the US army. Do you think he saved it for his next life?
————————————————————

you said “Any country that was planning to help Saddam get weapons before the war that could shoot down our airplanes is no friend of mine.”

My point: There is no such country.
————————————————————

you said “Did other countries give the U.S. bad info on purpose? Did they know we would remove Saddam based on the info knowing it was the right thing to do and then get blamed when the intelligence was wrong? These countries wanted Saddam gone but not by their own hand? Were they playing both sides because it was to their advantage to do so?
It is not our fault that the motives and actions of other countries are questionable. “

i’ll say “Are you trying to say that the United States Intel is a joke? … do you really think that the US govt. works based on other country’s Intel? Again, common sense is a good investment”
——————————————————————-

Recently I met a man in Texas who happens to think that the US is having Osama Bin Laden as their captive and that the Republicans are waiting untill the last minute to release that news to win more votes. I call that “Creativity in the wrong direction”.

I simply can’t say if that man was more stupid, more hopeful or more creative…but I sure as hell know that he was a republican.

Another problem for the American image is the myth of our omnipotence and hence our responsibility. The U.S. accounts for about 25% of the world’s GNP and our influence is literally everywhere. That does not mean we prop up regimes.

Rocky

Your list includes: Chile, Iran, Iraq, Viet Nam, Panama, the Palestinians, the Taliban, Bin Laden. The U.S. has been involved with all of them, but that we are responsible for all they do is just silly. It is true, for example, that the U.S. provided more aid to Afghanistan under the Taliban than anyone else in the world. That was a good thing. We saved thousands of Afghans from starvation, despite their government. I suppose that propped up the Taliban, but that is the price of being the world’s big power.

By the standard that people sometimes use, we could be accused of propping up every country in the world. Our military - without a doubt - “propped up” the governments of W. Europe, Canada and Japan. Since World War II, these countries have been able to spend a lot less on security than they would have because of American securities guarantees. By the lenient standard of propping up, our aid programs have propped up Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Our food aid is today keeping thousands alive in Darfur. Does that mean we are propping up Sudan?

Okay, we prop up all these governments. If so, let’s get some of the credit as well as the blame. Europe and Japan I think benefited from the propping. Chile is currently the most successful economy in Latin America and one of the most successful in the world. Panama has shaken off despotism with U.S. help. Iran? They seemed to be no worse off when we “propped them up”. Iraq, I expect you are talking about the 1980s when we wanted to prevent Iran from conquering Iraq. It wasn’t exactly propping up, but I am not sure it would have been better AT THE TIME if Iran had conquered Iraq. Vietnam fell into barbarism after we stopped our propping, much worse than when we were there. I really am not sure what you mean about the Palestinians. We give a lot of humanitarian aid, but I don’t think they would consider us helpful. Bin Laden, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan we helped the resistance. We underestimated the hatred and lack of common decency and humanity among some of them.

Jack, I could be wrong but I think that America is the only reason that Arafat is still alive,
I don’t think that Israel would have shown as much restraint had we not been intervening.

Saddam was supplied, by us with most of the weapons that we were afraid of when we invaded.

Chile had in Pinochet one of the worse dictators known to the planet. Oh and I didn’t mention what the CIA did to Allende.

We captured and arested Noriega after he was no longer any use to the CIA.

Things in Iran might not have been so bad had we not kept the Shah in power so long. Of course that is speculation.

WE knew about the Taliban going in to Afganistan. But we needed the Taliban and Bin Laden to fight the Russians. Lesser of two evils?

Things in Viet Nam were already goig down hill before we got there. Even Eisenhower knew that.

kctim,
we should be helping other countries around the world that need it, because we can. After all it’s the “Christian” thing to do.
That alone would change our standing in the world.

How have any of these other countries helped us?
You help me paint my house and then I spit on you, are you still going to keep helping me?

Christian thing to do? I didn’t think the govt. had anything to do with Christian ideas. That is wrong. Afterall, some have changed meanings in the Constitution to try and get rid of any reference to it.

kctim,
These references stretch back to the sixties. The CIA decided to mess with other countries because of the “Threat” of communism. He may be a scumbag but at least he’s not a communist.
That’s where most of our despot friends came from.

Rocky

When you think about it, it is as arrogant to blame America for all the world’s ills as it is for Americans to take credit for all the good things that happened. Do the people in other countries have no responsibility for what happens to them? They wait for America to give them permission to do anything? It is ironic that especially Americans who consider themselves citizens of the world believe in their bones that the U.S. controls the actions of everyone else in the world. Which Americans “lost China”? Which Americans created the Shah or built up Saddam? How are Americans responsible for the lives of the billions of people in the world? It makes us feel important.

The list of U.S. sins is too long to address, but I will only mention the one about Saddam. Most of his arms were Russian (or Soviet), French or Chinese. He had no significant American arms. The charge that the U.S. created Saddam is just not true, and it is largely a recent creation. I went back and looked at issues of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy from the 1980s. These contemporary documents are full of articles criticizing the U.S. for not helping Iraq in its battle against the evil Iranians. Arabs especially were seeking U.S. help for their fellow Arab. The criticism was the U.S. wasn’t doing enough to help. Now we are being blamed for doing too much.

The U.S. has an active policy toward the world, but whatever we do (good and bad – and there is a lot more good) is done with the cooperation (or complicity) of the local people. Sometimes they are doing things in spite of us. Sometimes, as in Iraq under Saddam in the 1980s, we just are not the most important player. Sometimes it is not really our fault. A non America centered point of view would be good for both America’s detractors and supporters sometimes.

“When you think about it, it is as arrogant to blame America for all the world’s ills as it is for Americans to take credit for all the good things that happened.”

Jack, belive me I agree with you. However we have in the past, supported some pretty repressive regimes, it wouldn’t suprise me at all that the folks in those countries were pissed at the US.

It was my understanding that the CIA helped out Saddam with his chemical warfare stuff during the Eighties against Iran.

Look, Jack, This country has commited some royal screw-ups, but we are neither as bad or as good as some would make us out to be.

If Bush had admitted to his screw-ups we could have gotten over it and moved on. We seem to fixated on placing the blame insted of fixing the problems. That goes for both of the candidates.

kctim,

You have a very selective grasp of facts. I find this interesting. You obviously never saw it from the other side. I will give you a few examples:

1. Globalization - The United States forced third-world countries to remove Tariffs that protect their Farmers in the name of “Free Trade”. The Third-World Nations removed them with the understanding that there will be an “Equal Footing” that will let their Farmers compete fairly. What happens? America refuses to remove subsidies for American Farmers thus allowing US Products to flood Third-World Countries at greatly reduced prices. Third-World Farmers can’t compete in what is essentially cheating by the US and thus starve. Countries who oppose this behavior are levied sanctions by the US-dominated WTO and World Bank.

There is a very definite hypocrisy in American Policies. This is what fuels the Hatred you, kctim, do not understand.

Aldous.

Aldous
I will be the first to agree that I don’t know all of the facts about globalization. IMO, globalization is the wrong way to go. I am strongly against it.
Selective grasp of the facts? Maybe so, I admitted I have been tainted by living outside the states for 10 years.
In your example, I don’t care about the “other” farmers. I only care about the American farmers.
And if the other farmers want to say they hate America for what happened, more power to them. But they shouldn’t be coming to us for protection and money.
As long as there is one American hungry, without a home or in bad health, I don’t think we should be sending money to other country’s and I sure as hell don’t think they have any say in how we run our country or what we do.
If they wish to become the world leader, they can have it. But until then, if they don’t appreciate what we do for them, they deserve nothing. Especially at the cost of an Americans chance for a better life.

Many of our image problems in the world are directly related to the acrimony of our own politics - especially around election time. U.S. news sources provide foreigners with most of the news they get from the U.S. In other words, most of what they know about President Bush comes from what Americans say about him, and his image abroad closely tracks his image at home. When our candidates go negative, people around the world are listening and some are taking notes.

Posted by J. Anthony Matel at October 27, 2004 08:55 PM

Not true J Anthony,

Ireland is a very small country, yet has a number of Irish correspondents resident in the US representing Irish print and electronic media. I know that British have a somewhat larger contingent and I believe the same is true for at least most western countries. I imagine it is also true for Eastern and Asian countries also

Paul, I’m in Singapore, and you’re right: They have their own foreign correspondents.

Paul and AP

You make a good point that I had simply overlooked, but I don’t think it damages the central thesis. For two reasons:

Most of what journalists know comes from secondary sources. This is even worse for foreign journalists. It is an unfortunate flaw of American politicians that they only like to give time to media that will influence voters. Given the option, a president would probably rather talk to the “Lacrosse Tribune” than the “London Times”. Ireland has a slight advantage because of the Irish American community, but U.S. politicians and officials are unlikely to return the calls of foreign journalists. Foreign correspondents are often stuck with the official designated for them at a “Foreign Press Center”. So while it is true that the news comes via the correspondent, it comes from the U.S. media.

Even if the news is direct, what is it? A direct quotation to the “Irish News” or “Straits Times” from Teddy Kennedy trashing President Bush, is still one prominent American trashing another. And why does the the people of Ireland or Singapore care what the Senator from Massachusetts says anyway? Because the world is watching and sometimes taking notes.