Here's Andrew Sullivan putting Europe on the couch:
So then you have the third, milder anti-Bush position: he's simply in way over his head. He's a moron, a Texas buffoon, illiterate, simplistic, and dangerous. Worse, he's some kind of born-again maniac whose main tool of policy prescription is getting down on his knees and thinking of Billy Graham. At some level, this caricature is so comforting, so easy to digest, so superficially true in some respects that it feels churlish to disabuse people of it. Brits like their Americans this way. It makes for great comedy sketches, even better jokes, and soothes the nagging worry that a country run by a certifiable idiot is still - somehow - the most vibrant, diverse and prosperous on the planet. After all, in the new century, it cannot be of that much comfort to Europeans that the one country that was decimated by a terrorist attack at the heart of its commercial capital has already leapt ahead economically of everyone else. If France's third quarter growth rate was 7.2 percent, it might make more sense. But, no. It's the country run by a moron, devastated two years ago by the worst act of war on its soil in history, and governed by know-nothing policies, that is doing so well. So, er ... let's make fun of the damage Bush does to the English language and compare him to Hitler. That will make us feel better.I don't think Europe will feel better. And here's a great cartoon, with dead-eye perspective. In case the link doesn't work, it's an English mob, protesting: "British Soldiers have no business fighting America's war!" Meanwhile, a journalist covering the mob, reports: "A popular sentiment here in London made without the slightest hint of a German accent".
Too bad we can't just put the European children to bed, kiss their little naïve foreheads, and tell them not to worry about the monsters. We'll take care of them.
