FOX News Can't Stop Dissing France
Reported by Ellen - February 22, 2005
The big story on yesterday's Big Story was Bush's fence-mending trip to Europe. "On the mend" appeared on the screen while reporter Carl Cameron gushed that "things are already a success" for "transatlantic unity" and for freedom and democracy throughout the middle east. But FOX News wasn't ready to bury the hatchet.
Host John Gibson asked if anyone believed that the "contretemps" over Iraq was just a "passing disagreement."
Carl Cameron demurred, saying that he'd have to let the president answer for himself but added that things were going so warmly between Bush and Chirac that someone asked if Chirac would be invited to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. That got "giggles" from the president, according to Cameron, and the president said he's always looking for a good cowboy. "Though it's kind of hard to imagine Jacques Chirac in chaps," Cameron added.
"It certainly is," Gibson agreed maliciously.
Comment: Doesn't that kind of talk undermine Bush's efforts at mending fences? For all the recent comments by some readers here about undermining US efforts abroad, I think this is a perfect example by FNC. Can you imagine if the French press made such snide remarks about Bush?
From there, Gibson interviewed DINO Bill Richardson, Democratic governor of NM, who started off by agreeing with Gibson that it's time for the Europeans "to get over it" on Iraq and that their negotiations with Iran clearly haven't worked (no mention that it might be because of Bush's bellicosity and threats toward that country).
Following Richardson, John O'Sullivan came on to discuss Bush's "charm offensive." "Will French and US relations actually improve?" Gibson asked in tandem with the question at the bottom of the screen.
O'Sullivan: "The Europeans realize, too, that in addition to the fact that he (Bush) won the election and he's going to be around for a long time that he was more right or less wrong, in their view, on Iraq. The elections in Iraq have demonstrated that. His policy towards democracy in the middle east now looks much more realistic than they thought it was. And on the relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians - his view that there wouldn't be any real improvement as long as Yassar Arafat was there has been demonstrated by the fact that Yassar Arafat has gone and almost immediately there has been a significant improvement. And the European policy of backing Arafat through thick and thin now looks distinctly shabby...
"..The underlying problem is that the French and the Germans, in particular, would like to run Atlantic relations as a kind of equal partnership wheras the traditional model through NATO is that America leads the relationship and frankly that is a more workable policy and also enables the small NATO countries to get their points of view discussed at NATO councils where America is at the table."
In other words, the improvements we have are because the Europeans figured out how right the US is, how wrong they have been and that our other problems will be solved if they stop trying to assert their power in NATO and just let Bush be the boss.
Mending fences and world diplomacy, FOX News style.
