But here's my contribution, from last Fridays edition of The National Review Online.
Denis Boyles Has a piece on How to Euro Speak.
In it he gives this advice:
Europeans hate the way Americans talk. They think we're loud and uncouth and they don't like our jokes, except for
Michael Moore. Plus, they resent the fact that they’ve had to learn our language because if they didn’t we wouldn’t buy their stupid metric widgets or visit their overpriced ruins.
So when the president goes to Europe to give his speech to all the EU-niks in Brussels on Tuesday, it’s important that he speak clearly — or at least clearfully. Because there are a few things he needs to say, and they can all be summed up in seven handy, easy-to-utter phrases:
- Get a Job <, , ,>
- Clean up your own mess<, , ,>
- Stop taking bribes<, , ,>
- Since you can't defend yourselves, get out of our way<, , ,>
- Knock-off the EUro-hypocracy<, , ,>
- Start a "No european left behind" program<, , ,>
- Jaques, Gerhard, get a better campaign issue<, , ,>
"This kind of knee-jerk hatred colors the judgments of both men and their fellow citizens. If Germany and France hadn’t already demonstrated their ability to market brutal hatred during World War II, this might not matter. But to fan the flames of grotesque intolerance during a war on terror just to keep two political hacks out of their own growing unemployment lines is a bit much. If that’s worth deep-sixing the Atlantic “alliance,” that’s jake. Or maybe we could give Germany our Security Council seat (and our share of the bills) on our way out of the U.N. Let Europe pay its own way for a decade or two. If Bush makes nothing else clear when he arrives in Brussels Monday night for a “working dinner” with Chirac it should be that ultimately European anti-Americanism isn’t our problem. It’s Europe’s problem, and Euro-leaders should take the lead in solving it."
I just wish someone would listen.
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