Re: Class without a bell for dismissal

Scottie: I was conceding the remarks about Bush so that I could make my
remarks about Chirac. Honestly, I don't know either of them. I don't
think even an experienced analyst could really diagnose them based upon
their public personae (which you seemed to question yourself, although
you do have distinct opinions about both of them) -- which makes
Vonnegut's comments just that much stupider, since he really seemed to
think long distance analysis via mass media was possible.

As hard as I was on Chirac about the girls wearing Muslim head dresses,
bottom line is he delayed any action on the issue until it was studied,
which effectively allows Muslim girls to wear what they want. It's
quite possible that his more disturbing statements were then intended to
pacify the people shouting the loudest, and that his design is to buy
time until the feelings die off a bit then let this issue disappear into
the vagaries of public memory.

In which case, he really agrees with my feelings and is being
politically astute.

But I don't know the man. It's equally possible the study is designed
to legitimize essentially xenophobic legislation that he's already
committed to.

My impression of Bush is that he's listening to his generals too much
and lacks imagination - perhaps another way of saying, "narrow, stupid,
submissive to stronger personalities."

Jim

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Received on Fri Jul 11 10:09:03 2003