Bush visits Canada

[pritchke]

Overall a good visit with a small peaceful protest.

Any way I am quite surprised Bush remembered "Jean Poutine", and both leaders seemed to be having a little fun as they joked.

"I told Paul that I really have only one regret about this visit to Canada," Bush smiled. "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him for that endorsement. I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine." - Bush

I found this comment funny as well

"I, frankly, felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable, and I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave - with all five fingers." - Bush

Source

Some American newspapers portrayed President George W. Bush on Wednesday as "criticized as defiant during visit"

Source

Martin, said the New York Times "is politically more conservative than Mr. Chretien," and Bush "has far better personal relations" with him.

The newspaper was among several that called some of Bush's comments contradictory to the goal of improving his image in Canada, saying he appeared "defensive at a time when he was expected to reach out and try to repair the rift over the war in Iraq."

The Washington Post said he "replied with defiance" when asked if he was responsible for a rift between Canada and the United States.

And the Financial Times said he "delivered the verbal equivalent of a single-fingered rebuff to his many critics north of the border."

His comments reflected "the self-assured victory lap quality of Mr. Bush's international outreach since re-election" last month.

CNN's coverage included one expert who declared that Americans routinely take Canada for granted while the conservative Fox News had a guest who blasted Canadians for thinking they're superior.

And a more subdued Parrish appeared on CNN late Tuesday, only to have conservative pundit Tucker Carlson tell her that the U.S. doesn't need Canada.

Bush also tossed a political missile into the prime minister's lap. Poor Martin!!!

Source


Bush deviated sharply from the formal agenda of his first official visit to Canada by baldly requesting Canadian participation in a continental missile defence program that successive Liberal governments have been ducking for years.

"I hope we'll also move forward on ballistic missile defence co-operation to protect the next generation of Canadians and Americans from the threats we know will arise," Bush said during a speech that delivered a blueprint for American foreign policy over the president's second term.

He certainly didn't get any applause for this part of his speech. White House officials let it be known that Bush's Halifax speech was to be a significant policy marker. This kind of worries me to one extent, he has 4 years left and what will he do with it, hopefully not more war unless absolutely necessary, I am sure most parents want there sons and daughters in Iraq home.

I think this Canada trip was merely a way to test the waters as Bush will visit western Europe in the new year with a similar message were the waves could be a little rougher for him.

[ 12-02-2004, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Cerek]

I seriously doubt Bush will start any more wars. First of all, it will take most of his last term (if not ALL of it), to get Iraq stable enough to remove our troops completely.

Which leads to the second reason he won't start another war - we simply don't have the manpower available.

The final reason he want start another war is the fact that he won't need to. The fact that he DID start the Iraq War (despite opposition from the U.N.) showed the other countries in the Middle East (and North Korea) that Bush WILL go to war if he thinks he has to. Sometimes the "implied threat" of military might is not enough to convince enemies to negotiate with you...because they don't really believe you'll actually USE that military might. Sometimes you have to give a show of force to prove that you are willing to use your military if necessary.

Now, while many consider the "need" to use the military highly debatable (at best), the benefits for future negotions (or quelling future threats) cannot be denied.

In the late 80's, Muammar Qaddafi was the one spouting off about the evil Americans and that he would bring the fight to us, etc etc. Reagan didn't send the full military might against Libya, he just had airstrikes made on Qaddaffi's known residences. Suprisingly enough, the "threats" from Qaddaffi stopped immediately and he hasn't been heard from very much since.

This "show of force" will reap future benefits, though it might be weakened a bit if the Democrats win the Oval Office in 2008. Not slamming the Dems, it's just that they have historically been VERY reluctant to use ANY force - even when the situation SCREAMED for it.

Osama bin Laden orchestrated far more attacks against American troops and embassies during Clinton's Administration, but Clinton didn't make any serious effort to capture or kill him. In fact, the only time he responded at all was during the height of "Lewinsky Gate", and many people feel that was just a case of "Wag the Dog" in order to divert attention from his personal problems.

To his credit, I don't feel the American public would have supported a campaign against Bin Laden under Clinton the way they did for Bush. It took an event with the magnitude of 9/11 to get the public support needed for the campaign Bush launched against Bin Laden. So I don't "fault" Clinton completely for his lack of initiative against him, althought I feel he could have been a little more agressive in his efforts.

[Ronn_Bman]

"I, frankly, felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable, and I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave - with all five fingers." - Bush

He finally said something people laughed at, and he said it on purpose! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[wellard]

The cost of god speech writers must have come down


I think one of the reasons Bush is more hated abroad than he is in the USA, is that overseas we dont get to see the disarming, warm and personable side to him, just the bare hard results / failures of his policies.


I was going to edit my god / good spelling error but somehow it sorta rings true [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[ 12-03-2004, 05:21 AM: Message edited by: wellard ]

[johnny]

And the ones who waved with only one finger were probably lumberjacks, perfectly good explaination.

[Moiraine]

Gosh we do miss Timber here.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Originally posted by Ronn_Bman: "I, frankly, felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable, and I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave - with all five fingers." - Bush He finally said something people laughed at, and he said it on purpose! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I feel the same way Jon Stewart does. He played that clip, and sat there for a while, and finally spoke.

"I have a lot of issues with President Bush... but that was a pretty good joke."

[Aerich]

Lol - that's how I feel too.

Not a bad trip all around, with the exception of the whole missile defense issue.