Thursday, November 04, 2010

The question contains the answer, grasshopper...

(T)his year's midterm election that delivered a stinging rebuke to the Obama agenda has many Europeans at a loss over why Americans are not as smitten with Mr. Obama, who is seen here as cool, articulate, and almost European, as they are.
Gosh, how could I not be smitten with somebody who's "almost European"?

Hey, Pierre and Helmut? Get over yourselves.

Man, the utter tone-deafness just leaves you shaking your head in wonder, doesn't it? It's like some international version of the Democrat party's constant demand of "Why won't you stupid, cousin-humping rednecks vote for us?"


(H/T to RobertaX.)

39 comments:

McVee said...

Is there an emoticon for a bronx cheer?

BMiller said...

Attention Europeans.



The next time you start some prissy little fight and need somebody to definitively finish it (at least for a generation or two) call us.

Until then all we want out of you is a little booze, the occasional trinket, and a steady flow of hot chick with sexy accents. Other than that you can all pound sand.

That is all.

Keads said...

Wait..I'm confused. What part of Europe are we supposed to be like? The part we saved or the part we pounded back to the stone age.... Twice! Oh wait! I got it! Never mind.

WV: guabyl- "How guabyl do you think I am?

Cybrludite said...

Dear Europe,

We came over here because we were sick of your **** and no longer wanted to do things your way. Until you're man enough to come over here and make us do so at bayonet point, you can go bugger off.

Hugs & kisses,
The United States of America

bluesun said...

You know, sometimes it's fun to point fingers at an entire continent and say "Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nahhh! I don't care!"

This is one of those times.

Anonymous said...

Somehow my ignernt 'murcan brain read that as:

"Obama is cold, emasculate, and almost European..." and I'm like, hell yeah, ya'll nailed it!

And I pledge my full assistance in making the O all the way EU in about, oh...25 months.

AT

Crotalus said...

That's because we're Americans, and NOT Europeans Most of us still remember a little thing called the Constitution, and the freedoms that it protects (or, once protected) Most of us do not want a socialist Big Brother type of government, like you slaves do.

"Stinging rebuke"? Hell; the Kenyan got bitch-slapped, but good!

Matt said...

Hey Europe,

When you stop depending on the USA for your defense and start spending the same percentage of GDP that we do for our military then maybe we'd give what you say the time of day.

Instead, we'll keep treating you like the annoying little brother you are. You know, the one that whines about how unfair life is and begs for help when the neighborhood bully kicks the snot out of you and takes your lunch money.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of something I read. An Athenian called Spartans ignorant, and the Spartan Plistoanax replied with "What you say is true. We have learned none of your evil ways."

That pretty much sums up how I feel about Europe. The less like them we are, the better.

Steve Skubinna said...

Neither the American left nor the European commentariat have realized that America was founded to be the anti-Europe. We are not Europe Lite, nor are we a nascent edition of New Europe. The more they try to drag us in that direction, the more they get their fingers bit. The more they scold, the louder we laugh.

I don't think they're ever going to figure it out, what with being the "reality based community" and all. And as Tam noted, their preferred method of persuasion is always the same: explain again how stupid we all are for not doing what they want.

Newbius said...

Have you seen my cousin? :)

Nancy said...

No one can understand Americans like Americans can. One thinks its similar to Europe, but its so not. I would guess this is why they are so confused. Maybe Obama should have been a European politician?

Außenseiter said...

@Crotalus

Yes, all Evropeans are socialist big government types, just like all American are religious, flabby buffoons who like to drink piss* (sigh)

The reason why he might be slightly more popular is, that none of his policies affect us, PR is what he does best, and that like in the US, and just like the US, we have lots of stupid people...


When you stop depending on the USA for your defense and start spending the same percentage of GDP that we do for our military then maybe we'd give what you say the time of day.

Yeah. Sure. Russians are going to ride out in their tanks and bmp's and take our lunch money.....

Or Libyans. Who couldn't conquer Chad on account of technicals with ATGM missiles on them...

@Steve Skubinna
the term 'Reality-based community'...
started it's life as a Bush administration aide's put down of people who thought it's prudent to think before acting. Aide thought US is an 'empire' and thus creates it's own reality..FYI.

*one of the more charitable nicknames for that mock 'Budweiser' beer

Anonymous said...

Tam - Man, the utter tone-deafness just leaves you shaking your head in wonder, doesn't it?

What the yobs in MiniTru don't get it that "European" is just this side of an insult to many Americans in flyover country, so trying to pitch The Dear Golfer as "European" doesn't really help him anywhere outside of the coasts and university towns.

At any rate, "cool and articulate" only gets you so far: you also have to be competent. The Dear Golfer has shown himself to be anything but. I might also add that most Americans appreciate "hard-working", which is a moniker that just doesn't seem to fit a man who spend so much time on vacation, golfing, or throwing lavish parties at the White House.

libertyman said...

"cool and articulate" ? Really? Have you heard him speak without the teleprompter? And isn't "articulate" a term of condescension used for minorities?

And hey, some former Europeans aren't bad at all!

Justthisguy said...

This all makes me feel even more Jacksonian, somehow.

staghounds said...

stupid, racist, cousin-humping rednecks

staghounds said...

And in truth, much of it IS ignorance. Like the conservative Americans who thought well of Prime Minister Bliar. One of the most Statist, Soviet heads of government ever elected.

But because he dragged Britain into the Iraq folly he's great.

Anonymous said...

You know how the majority of the MSM inthe US is "politically narrow based"

Ya think maybe the Euro MSM has the same issue? (The answer is "yes.") Of COURSE they don't understand, anymore than MSNBC does.

I know "plain folks" in Europe who were horrified by the "the one", and who see the midterms as a necessary first stage in correction.

Tam said...

"Ya think maybe the Euro MSM has the same issue? (The answer is "yes.") Of COURSE they don't understand, anymore than MSNBC does."

Oh, definitely.

The only real difference between the Euro intelligentsia-academia-media-bureaucrat "Elite Class" and ours is that they have a bout a thirty to fifty year head start.

If you want to see America in thirty years, imagine a Eurozone country but with better gun laws and NASCAR.

JohnW said...

"stupid, racist, cousin-humping rednecks"
Are you referring to Murricans or European royalty?

Matt said...

@ Außenseiter

Yeah. Sure. Russians are going to ride out in their tanks and bmp's and take our lunch money.....

Or Libyans. Who couldn't conquer Chad on account of technicals with ATGM missiles on them...



Ummm, yeah. So we're gonna listen to a part of the world that was the breeding ground of 2 world wars and couldn't even clean up the mess in their own backyard (Bosnia) until the US got involved ? Yeah, not so much.

Joel said...

Think maybe we could trade him to them? I'll bet there are some dusty warehouses full of Mauser actions over there...

Newbius said...

How about "stupid, cousin-humping royalty"? Most of them are related...

Stretch said...

Grand-father Smith gassed in France, 1918.
Uncle Jim and Father-in-law Joe wounded The Ardennes, Dec. 1944.
Dad stood watch against the Russians during the Cold War.

Europe can keep its opinions to its self. And they are more than welcome to host Teh One after Jan, 2013. They deserve one another.

staghounds said...

Um, I was just pointing out that Tam left out racist from the sales pitch.

Anonymous said...

"If you want to see America in thirty years, imagine a Eurozone country but with better gun laws and NASCAR."

Well see, now is the time for the blue-suit conservatives to be readin' and preachin' the lessons of history.

Not that it'll help much; I think your thirty year prognostication is pretty accurate except I'm not so sure the gun laws will be exempted from the socialist cancer that has emaciated our formerly free friends in Western Europe.

But I'll be dead by then, so good luck and good wishes to my children's and grandchildren's generations; mine has fucked things up quite enough.

wv: sprog...good luck sprogs!

AT

Steve Skubinna said...

I dunno, Außenseiter, my impression is that "reality based community" was coined in response to Bush's "faith based initiatives."

Because, see, lefties aren't snake handling Bible thumpers like conservatives are. So they base their policies on clean, articulate, leg trilling, trouser creases - uh, I mean facts and evidence.

Incidentally, if you despair at Americans forming impression of Europe based upon your elite opinion makers, maybe you ought to take it up with your social betters. Not that they'll listen to you.

Jenny said...

A couple years ago I would have agreed with the "thirty years..." prognostication.

Now I'm not so sure.

Seems to me a large portion of the country is busy running the opposite direction hard as we can. Provided the whole local/state sovereignty thing really takes root - and at least in the mountain west from Texas straight up through Idaho and Alaska - it looks like it's very likely to - I think there's every reason to hope we come out of this better off than before.

Tam said...

Jenny,

Sadly, I only give that a 20% shot.

Google "Fifth Generation Warfare"...

staghounds said...

I'm more like .02%. No broadly democratic polity has ever come back from insolvent fiat money, with three possible exceptions- the United States post civil war and the U. S. and Britain 1920-32.

And as far s I know, no polity has EVER shut off the bread and circuses.

Depends on how you define broadly democratic and come back, but hoping for a real retreat from the Welfare State is antihistorical.

To start with, what's the mechanism? Turn off the handouts, sure. But seriously, do you think that over half the voters have the will to cut, say, 20% of the budget across the board?

Or that any majority of the voters has the will to cut any particular spending category enough to make a difference?

That is, are there 51% who will gang up on defense or welfare and cut one of them by half?

Look, even tough old 1930 America couldn't bear those Dorothea Lange pictures, and gave up.

Außenseiter said...


Ummm, yeah. So we're gonna listen to a part of the world that was the breeding ground of 2 world wars and couldn't even clean up the mess in their own backyard (Bosnia) until the US got involved ?

That was more than half a century ago. Europe is now quite pacifist and there's little potential for internal conflict.

Your assertion is similar to to saying Germans now hold nazi beliefs.

Though I'm sure US will get involved and start bombing EU if we ever get our democratic shit together and start deporting obnoxious Arabs.

And why should we clean up someone else's messes? It's not like EU countries did not provide weapons and other material aid to anti-Serb forces there.

I haven't looked at that particular conflict, however, what I do know it wasn't 'just US', but a UN effort, with troops from many NATO and other countries...


@Jenny

Better than before? Uhm... not really. Before, in the 1950's and before US was the world's premier industrial economy. A very important part of world economy. In the 21st century, it'll be just another waning and heavily indebted 1st world nation. One of many.

It won't be competitive unless your standard of living falls* and way of life changes a lot. Sure, you'll have a few world class industries, but that's true for many countries.


*what's the latest round of QE? 600 billion $? Uh huh. Seems like cheating to me.

mariner said...

staghounds,
Depends on how you define broadly democratic and come back, but hoping for a real retreat from the Welfare State is antihistorical.


Sadly. you're right.

But then, a war of independence from Great Britain was unhistorical in 1775.

Tam,

You once told me we didn't need to worry about the U.S. military, because of this group called Oathkeepers.

Anonymous said...

How ingrained, how pervasive, how newly normal is it that an entire continent of formerly proud, independent and very distinctive cultures have devolved into and now consider themselves a microcosmic model for socialist, dependendent, classist oneworldism?

Young aubenseiter identifies only as EU, as if that is interchangeable in implication to US. His home, his nation, his independence...is gone. He actually believes, right now, that it is a good thing. And he thinks we are - and should be - headed fast and furious down that same indentured, subservient path.

And sadly, so sadly as to make me weep for my children and my children's children...he is probably right.

AT

Matt said...

@ aubenseiter


Just, wow. So the EU is pacifist. Why do you think that is ? Maybe because europeans beat the bloody crap out of each other from the fall of the roman empire until the end of world war 2. Maybe because the US came in after the war with the Marshall Plan and helped rebuild all those countries so there wouldn't be a reason for them to beat the crap out of each other any longer. Maybe because Americans stood on this side of the iron curtain and kept the Russian bear from gobbling you up like it did the the rest of europe (they called it the warsaw pact remember ?) Maybe because the US spent so damn much on defense to keep your ungrateful asses free that none of the EU countries ever spent more than 2 or 3% of GDP on their own defense which allowed them to build fairly strong economies. Of course that meant those same countries had the cash to dabble in socialism and almost universal entitlements (how's that working out for you now by the way?).

Do i think Germans hold nazi beliefs ? Some might but as a whole I don't think they do. I do find your comment about "obnoxious Arabs" interesting though.

Why would you clean up someone else's messes ? So you don't have a problem with genocide happening right next door ? Thats kinda like the person that ignores the man beating his wife in the next apartment because "its just none of my business". Its amazing how one of the first things to go from supposedly liberal nations is their compassion.

As far as other nations being involved, yes, you're right but like always the US took the lead. Of 3515 sorties, the US flew 2318, the UK flew 326 and the Netherlands flew 198. All the other countries involved (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the rest of NATO) flew less than 100 missions each.

What it ultimately comes down to is this : The US isn't perfect, it never has been. But I think in the ultimate accounting we've tried to do a lot more good than bad. We haven't always been 100% successful when we've tried and God knows we've had our share of complete failures but in the end we TRIED. When the folks in the EU can say as much, with conviction, I might give a damn about what they think of us.

Sorry for the rant Tam. As of now I'm done.

Tam said...

Mariner,

Who said anything about the military, here?

Anonymous said...

And the commentariat keep missing that a whole lot of "Europeans" care less and less for the Eurocrats, and at least three countries over there are cutting benefits, loosening taxes and are gaining jobs. Um, like the US used to be known for? I agree, Obama is one of the best Eurocrats around (I can soooo see him pontificating in Brussels or correcting someone's French at the Sorbonne), but at a time that a lot of Johanns, Jeans and Tomas'es are getting as tired of it as we are. Now, if they could just get over the whole "Eurabia" course and sort out that wee mess . . .
LittleRed1

Jenny said...

Better than before? Uhm... not really.
We'll see. :)

Before, in the 1950's and before US was the world's premier industrial economy....

1950's was a blip. Only one of any industrial size left standing. But you know that.

In the 21st century, it'll be just another waning and heavily indebted 1st world nation. One of many.

Depends on what we do.

It won't be competitive unless your standard of living falls* and way of life changes a lot. Sure, you'll have a few world class industries, but that's true for many countries.

Enough of those industries are world-changing enough (energy and biotech especially), and enough resources are just a skip past our gravity well that I don't think we'll necessarily see a long term decline in the standard of living - again, depending on what we do.

Short term by this point is going to be a hella bumpy ride no matter what we do though.

I have to admit, part of me finds this kinda fun, scary as it all is. Who needs a LARP when the real world is so exciting? :)


Tam - thanks for adding to the book pile. :p


In the end though, there's this - Freedom doesn't have to hold out forever on this rock. It just has to hold out long enough to have somewhere else to go.

And I think Alaska and the Mountain West have the potential to hold the line that long.

phlegmfatale said...

Oddly enough, when you look at gen-u-ine European folks like the Bourbons, apparantly cousin-humping (and not just of the dry- variety) is not exclusive to greater American Redneckia. I'll stick with my backward choices at the polls, TYVM.