Ehrenberg on Politics!

Recently, Ehrenberg made a comment in Mopar Action (printed) about being sorry to have to send money to France by buying B. F. Goodrich Drag Radials for the Bold Beeper project car.

This elicited quite a few letters, both snail and e-mail - about 150, as of this writing (Dec. 2nd, 2004).

About half were simply surprised to learn that B.F. Goodrich is a French company. (It is - it’s 100% owned by France’s Michelin. Want to see the surprising list? Click here: http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/france-04.htm)

Almost all the rest of the letter’s were congratulatory “atta’boy’s”. One guy, Ben Munford, took us to task for Ehrenberg’s crack.

In our ongoing effort to be politically correct, we thought it only fair to let the world see Munford’s complaint - and Ehrenberg’s snappy reply. So here goes:

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Subject: The French

Dear Rick,

I think you're the best tech editor in the business. However, your comment about not wanting to buy BF Goodrich tires because of what the French did to us in Iraq is bizarre. Did you read that David Kay, our own chief inspector, found no evidence of any nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons stockpiles in Iraq? Did you read that George Tenet, the former CIA director said that there was no consensus in the CIA as to whether Iraq had NBC before we went in? Yet, Congress got a report from the Bush Administration saying that those weapons of mass destruction were unquestionably in Iraq. Did you read that the anti-terrorism panel found no evidence of a link between Al Qaida and the Iraqi government? Yet, to this day the Bush administration claims that one exists. I think the only thing the French did was to refuse to believe the Bush administration's lies. We have spilled the blood of over 1000 American soldiers and 10s of thousands of Iraqis. We have done billions of dollars in property damage in Iraq: all in the name of Christian love. It seems to me that you are pretty close to putting on blinders and joining the religious right: the very same people who you blame for getting rid of the Dodge Demon. I guess your politics has changed. Maybe, you and Pat Robertson should meet, bring your George Bush mini-statues, and worship your idol together.

Ben Munford
Via e-mail: Benmunford@wmconnect.com

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...and Rick’s reply:

Ben- First of all, let me say that I'm not right wing. I'm also not left wing! If I thought the Libertarians had a snowball's chance in hell, they would get my vote. I believe the government should defend us, pave the roads, and that's about it! Just leave us alone - pure capitalism will do the job. OK, I’ll answer you directly (with some outside help - facts - I don’t claim to have researched this all by my lonesome)....

The now-fading opposition to the war after the fact has no justification in real world events. The war has had enormous beneficial effects with minimal negative consequences. A terrible tyrant was taken down. The filling of mass graves with 300,000 corpses were stopped. Plastic shredders used for human beings were deactivated. Prisons for four to twelve year olds were closed. A democratic constitution has been enacted. Two-thirds of al-Qaeda's leadership is gone. There hasn't been a terrorist attack in America in more than three years, something no one would have predicted after 9/11. By any objective standard, the Bush war on terror is a triumph

Retired chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has published a book, Disarming Iraq. Blix opposed the military option right to the end. But he states very clearly in his book that Saddam failed to meet the requirements of UN Resolution 1441, that he showed his contempt for them in fact, and that they were a legal justification for force. Not that I have much use for today’s U.N. anyway - the unfolding oil-for-food scandal has, experts say, the potential to be the biggest fraud or criminal act in the world’s history, on a dollar-value basis.

But the French! Sorry, I've been there many times, I know them well, I have French friends, they are all stand-up guys. But Chirac and the French government! Don't get me started! OK, I won't write a book. Let me just point out a few facts: In that oil-for-food UN scandal, who made the most money off of Saddam? One guess. Who played obstructionist from day one, when virtually the entire world - even Egypt - was sure Saddam was hiding the nasty stuff? One guess. (BTW... I think the stuff WAS there, we just gave him 6 months to move it to Syria, sell it to terrorist groups, etc.) France fought for the Hussein regime to stay in place simply because they were cashing in on shady oil deals and weapons sales with Iraq that violated the U.N. sanctions. And France criticized us for not listening to the U.N.? France is a doomed nation. Come see me in 25 years and we'll talk about France. My friend, it's not going to be pretty. Prosperous and countries filled with potential do not make backdoor deals with Saddam Hussein and sell weapons to a murderous regime in violations of agreed upon sanctions. Not if they want ANY friends, ANY respect.

This could go on and on, so I'll just end it with a quote from Rummy:
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I'm quitting while I'm ahead."
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Me too!    Rick

In the ~ 2 years since Ehrenberg posted the above, we’ve received a slew of comments, mostly (but surely not all) “attaboys”. The most recent letter (as of today, 05 August, 2006) complained about the editorial to our Editor, Cliff Gromer, who forwarded it to Ehrenberg for comment. It is posted, verbatim, below, along with E’booger’s usual snappy reply.

Enjoy!

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Rick’s reply....

François Bertrand-

I am the author of the article you are referring to. Allow me, please, to make a few comments. First of all, the article was clearly labeled as an editorial. Everybody, at least in the US, is entitled to speak his opinion, whether dead-center or outrageously liberal or conservative. This right is in our constitution, and is vigorously upheld by courts here. Editorials aren't necessarily objective, not are they supposed to be. One of the big problems we do have in the US is the "mainstream" media slanting or coloring so-called "hard news", what should be factual reporting, i.e., front page of the newspaper, etc., with opinion, usually political. Even though our current president (with whom, by the way, I surely do not agree 100% of the time) was elected by the largest majority in the history of US presidential elections, the mainstream media is clearly, almost admittedly, out to "get him". With their butt-kicking, I would not be surprised to see the impeachment process begin against Mr. Bush. Anyway, my point: It was opinion, and clearly labeled so. I’m entitled. You, clearly, are entitled to yours.

As far as the facts presented in the editorial, nothing you have written seems to have disputed any of them. Re: the video, it purports to be the French marsouins, not the army. Clearly, I have no way of proving or disproving it's authenticity. It's still quite humorous and surely does clearly portray they way most of us here in the US think of the French military. Hey, I could have brought up the wars of the last century, but I didn't. (I will now!) The closest I came was to quote our defense secretary: "...history France and Germany share of pathetic compliance with ruthless dictators." In WW-II, hundreds of thousands of American lives were lost restoring French Freedom and Democracy. What do you guys do? First, you quickly thumb your noses at us by electing socialist government after socialist government. Then you promptly elect a Prime Minister (King?) Chas. DeG., who despite only being able to lead France thanks to the military might and kindness of the US, promptly tells us to, in nearly so many words, "F**k off". In fact -- I don't know if you are aware of this -- his name, slightly misspelled -- became part of the American lexicon in the 1950s. Most Americans use this word without even being aware of it's roots. The word is gaul. It means, simply, to look straight into the eye, fearlessly, of someone who just helped you, and tell him to drop dead. OK, I’ll bring this up again, why not? Remember, if it were not for the US, you’d be speaking German now.
I, personally, don't think the French government owes us anything today. History is just that, the past. But fast-forward to today. It was just a week or two ago, as this is written, that the French government again insulted us and one of allies, Israel, for “over reacting”. Sorry, if an enemy had come across our border, murdering and kidnaping our citizens and military, we’d sure pound the living hell out of them. Shock and awe! What, the French think you should enter a war with no intentions of winning? Whoops, I forgot. You do.

François, as I was careful to point out in the editorial, I have many French friends. Several of them will be here, in fact, in a few days; we’ll be hanging out at the Mopar Nationals in Ohio, the biggest single-brand car show in the world. I regularly ship parts over to my friends in France. Nothing in the article voiced any anti-French-people opinions, mostly because I don’t have any. However, while France is a democracy (sort of), clearly the majority of the French people must take the blame for electing anti-US government after anti-US-government. According to your letter, you’re not part of that majority. That’s good.

For a moment, let’s forget the US. Even within the European Union, which France, it seems, has always though should simply be an extension of France, there’s plenty of ire currently at France. French businesses, for instance, think nothing of buying banks, utilities, oil companies, etc., in other EU countries. All well and good. But let a corporation from an EU country outside French borders try to buy a French “flagship” company...well, just try! That sort of thing (government intervention against foreign ownership) simply doesn’t happen here, unless it’s a national security issue. In fact, the three biggest banks in my neighborhood, HSBC, TD Banknorth and Citizens Bank, are all foreign owned. My favorite car company is, too. Do I like this? No. But the world, excepting France, is generally becoming a “global economy”. I visit my friend in the Czech Republic — his local banks are US owned (Citibank and GE Capital Bank). That’s just the way it is, and, in the long run, I think that’s good for all citizens of the world. Economically, obviously, France needs to re-think its policies. Look, for instance, and unemployment: Currently, the numbers in France are more than double ours. Heck, even Kazakhstan, Moldava, Romania, Ukraine, etc., have lower numbers. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_unemployment_rate ) And, the way we measure unemployment tends make the numbers look higher than they are. Measured the way much of the world measures it, the true unemployment rate here is virtually zero.

Now look at GDP growth. Despite 9/11, fighting wars on several fronts, etc., we manage to have a much higher rate than France. We’re also #1 amongst major countries in the all-important GDP PPP (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita ). So our government must be doing something right, to me, that’s means not doing much of anything re: business. Hands off! The exact opposite of the current French model.

In 1789, Marquis de La Fayette drafted the “Declaration of the Rights of Man”. This important work has as its cornerstone the principle: "Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights." La Fayette trained Americans to fight the British in our revolution, he spent lots of time in, virtually, my back yard. He has my everlasting thanks – I have not forgotten what this Frenchman did for us.

Please bring Marco back!

Rick Ehrenberg