From my hometown heavily-republican newspaper in Lansdale, PA:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13222617&BRD=2275&PAG=461&dept_id=466401&r
fi=6
Article text continued below the fold:
I am a registered Republican and haven't missed a general election in 40-plus years, and only one primary while away on a vacation.
My wife and I just returned from a month in Europe. My Italian and French are good enough to discuss politics and religion, and most European younger people have a command of the English language.
Our first night, in Luxembourg City, while eating mussels, we shared a table with an Italian businessman from Udine in northeastern Italy. He began an experience which was to continue throughout our trip. People - men and women, young and not young in private homes, shops, restaurants, bars, public squares - from France, Italy, U.K. and Belgium - raised the topic of American politics and the forthcoming elections.
I am not telling you how I am going to vote or suggesting that you should vote for a particular candidate, but I did want to relate some of their opinions and comments.
"This is the most important election ever and will determine the course of world history for years to come."
"There are worse dictators and bullies than Saddam in China and Africa. Why doesn't the U.S. do something about them? Oil!"
"We appreciate all that the U.S. did in World War II and after with the Marshall Plan, but you have gone from the most loved country in the world to the most hated."
"Vietnam was an error; Iraq is a mistake, a terrible mistake. Does he think he needs to correct his father's error?"
"The wasted use of your national resources is going to bankrupt the world."
"How conceited to make a unilateral decision and then expect us to blindly follow!"
"Bin Laden is one thing and your government is right to go after, but Saddam is another, and there was no reason to go to war."
"The American government policies are creating more terrorists than they are killing."
"How can anybody with a standard army fight a war against non-uniformed fighters with access to all kinds of weaponry and expect to win without the deaths of thousands? What can your government say to the 1,000-plus families of the dead soldiers?"
"The British people despise Tony Blair, not because he lied and led us into war, but because he won't admit the mistake and apologize for it. We see your president in the same light."
"You need to get out, and the sooner the better. You never should have started it in the first place; you need to get out!"
In the last days of our trip, while talking with a couple from the U.K. who we met on a bus tour, I said, "I've decided to go home and write up some of these comments and send it in to our local paper to let the people at home read what some Europeans are saying."
He said, "Send me a copy."
I realize I shouldn't use quotes without citing sources. I can share some, but not all because I didn't get all of their names; but I did get their opinions.
Jay Minnicks is a resident of Towamencin.