You talking to me?

TomF

When I read this column, I thought for a moment that the writer must be an Irishman, not a Canadian. Surely one could simply change "Canada" to "Ireland," "Canadian" to "Irish," and so-on, and get the typical Irish take on President George W. Bush of the U.S.A. (changes made here to ease the strain on the gentle reader)
http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/steward.html[/url]

"February 15, 2004
George Bush: The man the Irish love to hate

According to a poll published Feb. 9, Irish antipathy toward U.S. President George Bush is rampant. It's hard to believe that the Irish, in possession of a nice political mess of our own, have enough time to care. But it seems Bush couldn't get himself elected dog catcher anywhere in this country.

The results of the poll couldn't be more resoundingly anti-Bush if the respondents had been selected from the pool of candidates offering themselves in the 2004 Democratic primaries. Nor could the feelings be more vitriolic.

In a curious and uncharacteristic burst of enmity, Irish people somehow have developed a hatred for the American president more fierce than anything we are able to work up toward our own politicians. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is downright beloved by comparison. Enda Kenny, while he may not be loved, is at least ignored. At our most antipathetic, we used gentler words to express our dislike of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.

The national poll found that, given an opportunity to vote for Bush, only 15% of Irish voters would. Only 5% of us "extremely" like him, while 22% "extremely" dislike him. Only 12% think the Irish are better off with Bush in the White House, while 43% think we are worse off.

The litany of Irish complaints against the president is broad, ranging from his syntax to his security concerns. We hate him for the delays at our border and blame him for the fall in tourism. Nothing, it seems, is trivial enough to get under our radar. We can't stand how be pronounces "nuclear" and we squirm at the use of the non-word misunderestimate. And don't even mention the war in Iraq.

Since Bush has managed, while under relentless attack by candidates in the Democratic primaries, to remain in a tie with the leading Democratic contender, many times more popular in his own country than he is in Ireland, the explanation for our animosity must be in our relationship with this particular president.

Why has he struck such discord with the Irish? Why have so many of us grown to hate him so? Well, not to trivialize such an important relationship, but I think Bush has simply hurt our feelings.

The Irish are non-aggressive by nature. We are non-confrontational in our world dealings. Bush, with his international, in-your-face response to the horrors of 9/11, has stirred up a hornet's nest which we would walk over broken glass to avoid and which frightens the pants off us.

The very acts of 9/11 and the American response, including the war in Iraq, have brought into focus the frightening world we live in. Just how dangerous, how violent and how deep the hatreds, how determined and deadly the terrorists, has been exposed.

President Bush has chosen to react to 9/11 without subtlety. He has not engaged the world in dialogue designed to keep violence to a minimum. He has stumped the enemy, like some gunfighter out of a western movie, out to fight. If the rest of the townsfolk won't help, let them hide under their porches.

President Bill Clinton before him played a delicate game with international terrorism, bombing those suspected of inflicting damage on U.S. institutions just enough to send a message and maintain American pride. The policy, unlike that of the Bush administration, was designed to keep the lid on. To show strength, but to buy time to attempt solutions which, if workable at all, take time.

The Irish were comfortable with this. It fit our modus operandi on the international scene. Walk softly and carry a big stick with a carrot on the end of it. We could even offer our honest broker role without fear. Clinton never came near the polling depths of Bush, of course.

Now here we are, a nation with no appreciable armed forces, depending on the kindness of strangers for our national defence, facing a world divided into factions prepared to fight to the death.

We pride ourselves on our conciliatory role in the world, our ability to bring understanding and reconciliation to troubled spots. The world George Bush has created is our worst nightmare. In it we are completely marginalized. Unwilling - and frankly, unable - to come to the table as a military partner, we have no role. We are of no use to George Bush.

Worse, the blunt-speaking Bush has made that clear. He has let it be known that if he has any feelings at all for us, they are hostile. He embraced the U.K., Spain and Poland as America's best European friends and even, originally, kept us off the list of nations allowed to bid for lucrative reconstruction contracts in Iraq. We have been dismissed.

He acts, with design for sure, like a man who simply doesn't like us. The Irish, as we all know, want only to be liked. We hate him for it."

Tommy Vercetti

erm...that was rather stupid of you

TomF

Yes, in the clear cold light of dawn it did look stupid!

Tommy Vercetti

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

TomF

Well, the original piece I posted had names of actual Irish newspaper, magazine, polling organisations & reporters as part of the spoof. Legal beagles being what they are, it wasn't too brilliant a play, so I edited it after reading Tommy Vercetti's slap to the back of the head.