Jeremy wrote:
] Where is the evidence of "strong anti-French sentiment"?
] (More simply, where is the evidence of any sentiment
] about France?) It seems more like a sentiment of indifference
] about France.

Evidence is abundant. Search MemeStreams for "french france." Watch the Bill O'Reilly show (the guy is a moron, but he is very popular). People have confused France's position with anti-americanism and/or with pacifism. Its causing all kinds of problems. Rumsfeld's mouth hasn't helped either.

Jeremy wrote:
] Where is the evidence of "strong anti-French sentiment"
] (in the US)?

Decius wrote:
] Evidence is abundant. Search MemeStreams for "french france."
] Rumsfeld's mouth hasn't helped either.

First of all, I was asking about anti-French sentiment in the US. Canada and Britain don't count, because it seems they are always feuding with the French.

I ran your search, and all it turned up was an article about international reaction to Powell's UN speech.

Separately, I found mention of a recent New York Post one-liner, as well as a (jokingly, I hope) proposed "boycott" of French foods, to which the French must have laughingly replied, "Let them eat burgers." I also found that writers in the Washington Post, New York Review of Books, and Slate used the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys."

It seems like most of this "sentiment" consists of newspaper and magazine columnists, most of whom admit to having frequently invoked the "monkeys" phrase for several years now.

If there were real evidence of "strong anti-French sentiment", I would have expected it to show up in protests in US cities over the weekend. Instead, most of the protests were all about "give the inspectors time!", which is precisely what the French keep saying.

Rumsfeld's "old Europe" was hardly a strong sign of anti-French sentiment. This back-and-forth poking-and-prodding is diplomatic manuevering, not public opinion. And it has nothing to do with the characterization of US public opinion as having "strong anti-French sentiment." Rumsfeld's tone was much more pro-Eastern Europe than it was anti-French. The entire conversation revolved around (the absence of) unity -- Rumsfeld was waiting for the French to get with the program and stop stalling on the defensive measures for Turkey.

In the end, NATO devised a bureaucratic way to cut the French out of the loop entirely on the Turkey issue. As I said, it's more a question of indifference than "anti."

Among the millions of US citizens at rallies this weekend, did any one of them raise a sign that read, "Regime Change in France!" If so, none of those columnists reported on it.

Of course, if that sentiment did exist, no one could realistically protest it over concerns about the dangers of urban warfare, bloodshed on the streets of Paris, and the death of innocent French civilians. As history has shown, the cheese-eating surrender monkeys don't even put up a fight.

Jeremy wrote:
] First of all, I was asking about anti-French sentiment in
] the US. Canada and Britain don't count, because it seems
] they are always feuding with the French.

Did I indicate otherwise?

] I ran your search, and all it turned up was an article about
] international reaction to Powell's UN speech.

I, unfortunately, didn't run the search... I figured it would pull up a few choice articles... I've seen a number of things going around recently about "why the french hate us" or things like "french military practices surrender." This is what the ambassador was trying to address.

] If there were real evidence of "strong anti-French sentiment",
] I would have expected it to show up in protests in US cities
] over the weekend.

I'll conceed that "strong" is the wrong word. There is no "strong" anti-french sentiment. Americans aren't pissed off enough to get out in the streets about it, but they are pissed off enough to start making fun of the French and accusing them of everything from weakness to hate, and with increasing frequency.

] Rumsfeld's "old Europe" was hardly a strong sign of
] anti-French sentiment.

But it does piss them off... The people on the street who beleive there might be an anti-french sentiment in the US. No one likes getting told that they are insignificant, particularily when they are trying to make a point. The world diplomatic has two meanings. Rumsfeld's comments might actually BE diplomacy, but they weren't very "diplomatic." They feed the perception that Americans are power mongering cowboys who don't give a damn what anyone else thinks.

Personally, I hate having to navigate that perception when I travel abroad as much as a frenchman might hate having to navigate a perception in the US that his country is weak. It basically doesn't help matters to throw coal on the fire.

Remember that most of the people protesting weren't holding up signs that said "Give the inspectors more time," nor did they ask Iraq to peacefully comply with UN resolutions. They were holding up signs that said "No blood for oil." These protests did have a decidedly anti-US slant. If we don't demonstrate respect for our allies we will not get any respect from them.