NYT editorial: "Freedom fries", like "mission accomplished," stale relic

[DeepModem Mom]

Au Revoir, Freedom Fries
Published: August 4, 2006

When Congress renamed the French fries sold in its cafeterias “freedom fries” before the Iraq war, Bob Ney, whose position as House Administration Committee chairman put him in charge of the cafeterias, said the change registered “the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France.” In the real world, it mainly allowed people to register their strong displeasure at how juvenile Congress was being.

In the last few weeks, as The Washington Times reported, Congress has quietly changed the name back. We could think of many good reasons for the move. “Freedom fries,” like the “mission accomplished” banner that President Bush stood in front of a few months later, is now a stale relic of a naïve time, when the war’s supporters were convinced that Iraqis would be free right after they finished greeting their liberators with rose petals.

The renaming also was the embodiment of President Bush’s my-way-or-the-highway diplomacy. A French Embassy spokeswoman gamely told The Associated Press at the time that “we are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues, and we are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes.” But “freedom fries” was intended to be, and was, a poke in France’s eye. Harassing the French is probably not the wisest course now that America may need their help negotiating a ceasefire in Lebanon....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/opinion/04fri4.html?hp

[opihimoimoi]

1. Myopic Bush Supporters cannot see the Future...much less the Present

Blinded by Ineptness and Foolishness they plod on....

[Raine]

2. Those IDIOTS never

look toward the future, it's always living in the moment for them and what feels good at the time. x(

[tulsakatz]

3. that really was.........

.....an incredibly juvenile thing to do!!!!!!

I'm sure it never occured to them that they might need the support of the French in the future, nor did they care!