Madam, - Yet another letter has appeared, this one emanating from the Wildean pen of Cllr Chris Andrews (December 20th), sniping at George Bush's perceived lack of intelligence. This is the regular stuff of your Letters and Op-ed pages.
I suppose at this point I should issue a self-serving disclaimer. I'm an American citizen resident in Ireland, and had I voted in the 2000 US Presidential Sweepstakes, Al Gore would have been my preferred candidate by default. But that doesn't stop me from concluding that all these sophomoric swipes at George Dubya are in fact a smug put-down of the American electorate, who hadn't the savvy or gumption to dismiss Bush as a candidate in 2000.
I am equally amused whenever Margaret Thatcher is vilified, as she is regularly, both here and in Britain. Unless I'm mistaken, the British people had a number of chances to reject her and her policies, but each time they returned the Conservatives to power. What does that say about the quality of her opposition at the time or the nature of the people who voted for her?
Likewise, those who protest that they love the American people, but hate our elected government, are missing the point. It is the ultimate insult to imply that the citizens of a supposed democracy are really only helpless pawns when it comes time to cast their votes. Yet that is the message I'm receiving from all these smirking critics of George Bush's intellectual prowess. For if he is indeed an idiot, as the media here like to portray him, how are we to characterise those US (as well as Irish) citizens who support him? - Yours, etc.,
STEVE CORONELLA, Shankill, Co Dublin.