by Jerome a Paris
Tue Aug 7th, 2007 at 07:47:17 AM EST
From a former Securitate spy who defected to the West in the 70s:
I spent decades scrutinizing the U.S. from Europe, and I learned that international respect for America is directly proportional to America's own respect for its president.
Western Europe was still grateful to the U.S. for having restored its freedom, but it had strong leftist movements that we [the Warsaw pact secret services] secretly financed. They were like putty in our hands.
The European leftists, like any totalitarians, needed a tangible enemy, and we gave them one [: US Presidents].
It is America's leader that counts. Let's return to the traditions of presidents who accepted nothing short of unconditional surrender from our deadly enemies. Let's vote next year for people who believe in America's future, not for the ones who live in the Cold War past.
This appeal "to help keep our beloved America united and honorable" just leaves me ... weary. Which is how it works, of course. We're drowning in this ugly, inflammatory, shameless rhetoric, and we lose the terms of the debate. How do we fight back?