Why it’s appropriate to tell Europe to take a hike
Posted September 11th, 2008 at 11:09 AM by Jon HamA deranged British lefty comedian tells American TV audiences that it has to elect Barack Obama “on behalf of the world.” A British commentator has decided Americans simply can’t elect John McCain because “Obama has stirred an excitement around the globe unmatched by any American politician in living memory.” And a BBC poll shows Obama is favored in 22 foreign countries.
The correct response to all this is “So, what’s your point?” or “Like, we care?” Last I heard, Europeans didn’t have a vote in our elections, as dismaying as that probably is to lots of leftwing one-worlders and liberal Supreme Court justice candidates.
Still, too many Americans feel this is a genuine concern, that we should care what Brits, or the French, or the Germans think. Well, we shouldn’t. If they want to commit cultural suicide, that’s up to them. If they want to go to Tiergarten rallies by American Democratic politicians as if they had a say in anything, let them have their fun.
But if you ever needed to know why we should tell Europe to mind its own damn business, here it is. A British serviceman, Cpl. Tomas Stringer, arrived in the town of Woking in Surrey to help with a funeral of a fallen comrade, and this is how he’s treated:
Corporal Stringer arrived at the Metro in civilian clothes, but when he checked in the reception desk turned him away because company policy did not allow Armed Forces personnel to stay at the hotel. It was already late and Stringer therefore spent the night in his car. The hotel is owned by American Amusements Limited, a company based in Woking but, it seems, under British management. …
The treatment meted out to Corporal Stringer – and the failure of the media to raise the roof about it – reveals a very profound shift in public attitudes, and it is an ominous portent for the future that in the heart of England people can be so contemptuously dismissive of those defending them. I wish I had some explanation for it.
At some point our European friends will develop a backbone, or discover some politician who has one, and realize the disastrous course they’re on. One hopes, anyway.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:28 am
PJ O’Rourke has eternally answered that concern for us:
September 11th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I’m pretty much at the point of writing the British off and leaving them to the Islamic wolves. If they’re too sheepish to stand up for themselves, I feel no real need to force them to change their ways. In the immortal words of Jeannie Bueller, “Screw ‘em.”
Any foreigner who says in my presence that we simply must elect Obama is going to get a punch in the teeth.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Oh, and if the Brits love Obama so much, they can have him. Him, and Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt, and all the rest of the liberal celebrities.