In the past several years, on any given day -- including holidays, mind you! -- you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a media member complaining about how America's respect within the international community had declined under George W. Bush.
This makes Friday evening's editorial in Investor's Business Daily all the more astounding.
Readers are strongly advised to prepare themselves for an alternate state of reality before proceeding any further (emphasis added, h/t NB reader Andrew Gill):
Democrats have hammered the Bush administration for supposedly losing allies and global standing. But a look at U.S. ties shows Bush to be a master diplomat who is strengthening U.S. relations all over.
"The world owes President Bush a debt of gratitude in leading the world in our determination to root out terrorism," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a man whose recent elevation to office was supposed to denote a "cooling" of relations with the U.S. and a tilt toward Europe.
But Europe isn't really "cooling," either.
France is now led by a man elected as "le Americain." Like Brown, President Nicolas Sarkozy had nothing but good things to say about Bush. [...]
In Italy, all we can find is another enthusiastically pro-Bush prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who won high office this week in a landslide. "What I did counted in my relationship with Bush," he said this month in his campaign.
In Germany, led by conservative and U.S.-friendly Chancellor Angela Merkel, the sentiment has also gone pro-American, as it has in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Canada.
Outside of Western Europe, the reviews are even warmer because there's a focus not just on terror-fighting but standing up for democracy— as ties with Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Albania show. [...]
No president in U.S. history has signed as many free-trade deals as Bush, which has deepened our alliances well beyond trade.
Bush signed off on 10 free-trade agreements, many with Arab states vulnerable to terrorism such as Morocco, Jordan, and Persian Gulf state Bahrain — which is now a "major non-NATO ally." [...]
Bush has also boosted ties with strategic Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, and broken new ground with some very big players globally, like Brazil and India, both of whose leaders have the most cordial of relations. [...]
So what was that again about Bush alienating the world?
Great question.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.















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Comments Policy
Diplomacy
April 21, 2008 - 12:35 ET by KC MulvilleWhen I hear the Democrats brush off the progress in Iraq, and blithely promise to rebuild our relationships with allies, it strikes me that one of two things is going to happen, if Obama or Clinton is elected:
Because the media only
April 21, 2008 - 12:42 ET by taterBecause the media only touts the Chavezes, Castros, and Amediddwhatevers of the world. You know the ones who hate Bush and America.
By justice a king gives stability to a land; but he who imposes heavy taxes ruins it. -Proverbs 29:4
The simple truth!
April 21, 2008 - 21:32 ET by BodiniYou nailed that one squarely on the head tater!
So it beggs the question....
April 21, 2008 - 13:02 ET by c5thenJust what kind of "Change" exactly are Hillary and especially Obama talking about?
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
It's amazing what the total is
April 21, 2008 - 13:04 ET by WhoIsJohnGaltwhen you lay out all the facts and add them up with good, old-fashioned logic.
Libs remind me of kids, all-focused on the "wants" of the moment. Later on in life, most kids will mature to acknowledge the wisdom of restraint and the prudent course of actions over the pleasure of the moment.
Who was it that originally said, "Show me a young man who is not a liberal and I'll show you a man with no heart. Show me an old man who is not a conservative and I'll show you a man with no brain." ?
Answer IS...
April 22, 2008 - 01:05 ET by gfrrmanI believe Winston Churchill...but don't quote me on that...
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. -Sir Winston Churchill.
Kinda, sorta the same...... paraphrased?.....maybe
"Eventually, Socialists run out of other peoples' money...." MARGARET THATCHER
gfm
April 22, 2008 - 08:52 ET by Noel Sheppardgfm,
Actually, historians have NOT been able to identify that Churchill ever said this. They've looked at all his written works and speeches, and haven't found anything like this. FWIW. ns
Don't know who said the above quote, but I liiike it!
April 21, 2008 - 13:29 ET by 1MPTombSo, I take it that now President Bush is NOT Hitler-war-mongering-sub-intellectual-Jesus-freak?
What will the libs whine about now?
Swing a dead cat!?!
April 21, 2008 - 15:40 ET by inquiringmindAs a cat owner I'm deeply offended. Now if you had said a "liberal's dead cat", well that would be a different story.
IM
April 21, 2008 - 16:13 ET by Noel SheppardIM,
Well, in reality, the phrase has nothing to do with cats. From what I've been able to determine, it is a British navy term related to "cat-o-nine tails." This used to relate to a confined space, as in "not enough room to swing a cat." Eventually, this morphed into the current phrase, which means that you can't swing it without hitting something.
BTW: Letting the cat out of the bag also relates to a cat-o-nine tails, for this whip was also kept in a bag when not in use. ns
Seems like a lightly posted item, so:
April 21, 2008 - 16:46 ET by WhoIsJohnGaltBlind guy with a seeing eye dog walks into a department store. Picks up the dog by the hind legs and starts swing him around and around over his head. People scrambling and screaming. Clerk rushes up and gets about ten feet from the spectacle and shouts, "Sir...SIR...can I help you?!"
Blind guy says, "No thanks...just looking around."
Incoming!
April 21, 2008 - 18:38 ET by the strugglerOr in my case,being the cat lover that I am,you couldn't swing a liberal without hitting a cat.
President Bush
April 22, 2008 - 12:43 ET by Lisa JI pray to God that President Bush is given the credit he deserves before he leaves this earth.
It's a sin how he is "misunderestimated" and his reputation destroyed by the world wide liberal media.
I only wish I could vote for him again.