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Foreigners, Politics

Honi soit qui mal y pense

04.10.08 | Comment?

When Gorgeous George Galloway appeared before the Senate way back when, even some of those who thought he was lying through his oil-smeared pie-hole could admire his artful use of parliamentary rhetoric.  In a similar vein, I present an official defending his government’s policy with an élan that Condoleeza Rice was unable to summon when confronted by the witless Barbara Boxer.  Here’s French Prime Minister François Fillon:

“Avant d’être tournée contre mon gouvernement, cette motion de censure est tournée contre ceux qui décidèrent avec courage et lucidité d’engager la France dans un processus certes difficile, mais juste”, a-t-il souligné, alors que la décision d’intervenir en Afghanistan avait été prise en 2001 par Jacques Chirac et son Premier ministre socialiste Lionel Jospin. […] Le retrait, ce serait la défaite. (…) En somme, nous laisserions à nos alliés le soin de régler l’affaire, laissant ainsi entendre que leur victoire ou celle d’al-Qaïda et des Talibans ne nous empêcherait pas de dormir”, a-t-il dit. […]  L’opposition nous accuse d”atlantisme’, façon aimable de nous présenter à la solde de George Bush. Chacun l’aura compris, il s’agit pour eux de surfer sur l’un de nos travers les plus discutables : l’anti-américanisme primaire”, a-t-il dit.

Perhaps it all reads better in French but would sound quotidian in English.  More likely it represents a real advantage that comes from having Cabinet-equivalent officials who have to survive equally in the rowdy world of parliamentary politics as well as their bureaucracies.  That class of our officialdom might be dominated by too many academics and lawyers to allow for such facility with extemporaneousness.

Speaking of officialdom, Barack Obama has confirmed that I have as much or more foreign policy experience as does he.  I always knew I was presidential caliber:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/us/politics/10obama.html?ref=us

I like this quote from McCain’s spokesthing: 

“Oh, and as Senator Obama may know, [McCain] has actually spent some time living abroad as well.”

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