Bush stirs up mob hate against Mexicans

Does anyone really think France is sweating the Freeper "bash France" campaign? And looking at the latest car sales data, it's the American companies that are getting pounded, not the Germans.

But it looks like Bush is encouraged by the Freeper brigades, interpreting it as grassroots support for his war mongering. And he's now trying to focus the guns on Mexico, threatening mob retaliation if our southern neighbor doesn't support our war resolution in the UN Security Council. As Krugman writes:

Then came President Bush's Monday interview with Copley News Service. He alluded to the possibility of reprisals if Mexico didn't vote America's way, saying, "I don't expect there to be significant retribution from the government" — emphasizing the word "government." He then went on to suggest that there might, however, be a reaction from other quarters, citing "an interesting phenomena taking place here in America about the French . . . a backlash against the French, not stirred up by anybody except the people."

And Mr. Bush then said that if Mexico or other countries oppose the United States, "there will be a certain sense of discipline."

I'd like to say that Bush is "out of control". I'd like to wonder whatever happened to Bush's "humble foreign policy" promises in the campaign. But heck, I've already hit those themes about a million times. Yet while the US media ignores Bush's threats, the foreign media has actually been doing its job:

These remarks went virtually unreported by the ever-protective U.S. media, but they created a political firestorm in Mexico. The White House has been frantically backpedaling, claiming that when Mr. Bush talked of "discipline" he wasn't making a threat. But in the context of the rest of the interview, it's clear that he was.

I don't buy the rationale for war, but it's clear that any other semi-competent president would've rallied world support by now, without trying to destroy the very international institutions that help keep the peace and souring relations with our closest allies.

Posted March 07, 2003 07:19 AM | Comments (52)