After Election, France Rings Late, but No Hard Feelings

[Rose Siding]

...American and French officials say that nothing should be read into the delay in Mr. Chirac's call and note that he faxed a handwritten letter of congratulations to Mr. Bush on the day after the victory.

Still, everyone on both sides of the Atlantic agrees that if France - and Europe - had voted on Nov. 2, Senator John Kerry would now be president-elect of the United States. As Jean-Marie Colombani, the editor in chief of the French daily Le Monde, declared in an editorial on Nov. 4, Europe and the United States have been driven "a world apart" by an American president who believes his intuitions "may be inspired by God."
............
As for Mr. Bush's insult of France during the presidential campaign, French officials now insist they do not care. "Come on, this was the campaign," said Jean-David Levitte, the French ambassador to the United States. "You know, my president from time to time is also very candid in the words he uses."

But Mr. Levitte acknowledged that he was not so relaxed in October when he called Daniel Fried on the National Security Council at the White House to complain that Mr. Bush had just said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, to big applause from the crowd, that he would never subject national security decisions to vetoes "by countries like France."

"I said there is a better way to say the obvious - no country will ever give a veto to another country about its use of force, but there is no need to mention France," Mr. Levitte said he told Mr. Fried. "And he said, 'Yes, I agree with you.' And he passed the message to the campaign."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/politics/15letter.htm...

[Zorra]

1. Good snub. We're sorry, France. Bu$h is our Hitler, we'll try to prevent

from attacking you this time around.

BTW, France, the election was stolen by electronic voting machines.

We didn't elect him this time, either.

[Rochambeau]

2. We've got to deal with that situation we didn't wanted that's clear.

We can't play Castro or Khadafi. Friendship with Bush administration is impossible but cooperation on some issues is still absolutely necessary so.....