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Toulouse Lips Sink Ships
Rich Galen Wednesday September 29, 2004
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From Toulouse & Paris, France
Citizen Diplomat Program
US Department of State
As part of the State Department's "Citizen Diplomat" program, I spent Monday in Toulouse (which is in the Southwest of France and the home of Airbus Industries), came back to Paris yesterday, before moving on to Rome this afternoon.
I have been speaking to journalists, editors, students, academics, and Non-governmental agency (NGO) types. Most of them - except for the students - have been French and all of them have been opposed to our activities in Iraq.
Here's what I've been trying to get my Embassy, Consulate, and State Department handlers to tell me: What's French for "We don't care?"
In truth, I have been diplomatic - for me. Which is to say I haven't used any bad words in describing the French government. Even when we were discussing French President Jacques Chirac's statement this week that France would take part in a meeting about the future of Iraq only if:
1. A timetable for coalition troop withdrawals is on the agenda and
2. Representatives of the insurgents are invited to the conference.
"What," I was asked, "do Americans think of the French Government's conditions?" I wanted to say, "We don't care." What I actually said was, "If this conference occurs, it will occur with or without the participation of France, and in any event it is not likely that conditions set down by the French government will influence the attendance of Iran, Syria, Australia, the UK, the US or, for that matter, Germany."
The response to this was some grumbling, much nodding of grudging agreement, and the very much pouring of more wine (vin rouge por moi, si vous plais).
The French desperately want the world to care what they think. And they are caught completely off guard - stup�fi� - when the world says, "We don't care."
It is - among the people with whom I've met - an article of faith that President Bush will be re-elected and, as one participant put it "we are having to come to the realization that Kerry will not be President and we will be having to deal with Bush (Boosh) for the next four years and so perhaps we will have to alter our positions to deal with that reality, and perhaps Boosh will alter his policies."
Dear French People: "We don't care?"
Yet another example of the drug-world in which the French government is living: An article in yesterday's paper said that the French Foreign Minister (the same guy who wants to invite the terrorists to the conference) said that there should be a referendum in France before Turkey is admitted to the European Union.
This is like saying there should be a vote in Guam before Major League Baseball decides if the Montreal Expos should be moved to Washington, DC.
The results of the referendum on Guam? "We don't care."
A new poll shows, as we move to within days of the first Presidential debate that President Bush is leading Senator Kerry 48-40, which is in-line with just about every poll released over the past three or four days.
According to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, Bush's lead has steadily increased over the past three weeks from being tied (46-46), to Bush leading by 3 last week (45-42) to the 48-40 lead he enjoys now.
Want a couple of numbers from that poll to silence the guy in the next cube who still thinks Kerry can win? On the question, "Which trait better describes [Bush or Kerry]?
- Is willing to take an unpopular stand: Bush 70 - Kerry 22
- Is a strong leader: Bush 59 - Kerry 29
- Is good in a crisis: Bush 55 - Kerry 34
Ok. We DO care about those numbers.
On the Secret Decoder Ringpage today: A link to the Pew poll; a pretty Mullfoto and an astonishing Catchy Caption of the Day.
--END --
Copyright © 2004 Richard A. Galen
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