Well Joerg, my take on Strange is that he's giving his own straw man a good hard whack. Do you or the readers here seriously think that Thompson or, if you prefer a more likely presidential candidate, Giuliani is persuaded by the election of Sarkozy in the belief that "Transatlantic Harmony" is now here or about to arrive? If so, read again the Foreign Affairs article authored by Giuliani and reviewed here not so long ago.

A better reading of that comment by Thompson would be as pure mockery of the very attitudes Strange wants to mock; and a message meant for an American audience primarily. To those in the US who've argued that American actions have poisoned the well of cooperation with Europe, Thompson might say, "on the evidence, apparently not so much - at least not to the point that Europeans generally, or European politicians specifically, will vote against their own interests in the pursuit of a vain anti-Americanism as some might have it."

In particular, he might well be mocking the likes of John Edwards or Barack Obama - neither of whom barring some remarkable turn of events is likely to be the next US president. That Clinton and Giuliani - the most likely at this point to be the next US President - seem quite far from being starry-eyed romantics when it comes to foreign relations generally, and relations with European nations or the EU in particular, will probably disturb very few in the US.

Actually Joerg, I'm not convinced that any but a few politicians or pundits - less sure what to think about journalists - actually believe that European elections are "nothing more than referenda on relations with America." I would highlight "believe" in that previous sentence. I write this because of my own, admittedly limited, experience about which I've written in the past: In conversations when this issue arises of European opinion/politics as it relates to US foreign policy, it has always been as an aide to advance a particular policy point by the people with whom I've spoken - as a means to score debating points. When to test the importance of European opinion to those who assert it I've pointed out evidence like that poll cited above taken among European politicians which can conceivably be spun against their point, European opinion becomes a bit less important.

Ah, that reflects only the insincerity of those with whom I've spoken, one could observe. Perhaps so. But would I have any reason to doubt the sincerity of the point when raised by pundits and politicians? Hmmmmm . . . let me think about that.

Take the passages Strange cites from the New York Sun and from Thompson. Odd isn't it that the New York Sun writer singles out Democrats for opprobrium as if there are no Republicans to whom the same charges could be applied? And in Thompson's case what does he mean when he writes about an "embarrassment to those who view us as the country bumpkin cousins of the sophisticated Europeans." I don't know whether Thompson was addressing a European audience or not, but I can tell you this: that last part would be heard loud and clear and will generate a smile in certain parts of this country. That's ol' Thompson out for spin in his rhetorical "red truck".

Strawmen? Sure. And I can understand the purpose to which they are employed by pundits and politicians alike.