At least they're not all idiots

Andr� Glucksmann, a French liberal philosopher, explains what Europeans don't get. "Mad is the European who thinks himself immune to terror for having opposed Saddam's overthrow," he writes. And mad is what the majority of them seem to be. Maybe socialism does that to you.

Another quote: "What's the point of political campaigns, meetings, reports, programs and debates if within a few hours, the bombing of packed train cars can reverse the result?" Before the past year, I would have sworn that most people could see that for themselves, but the phobia for any kind of violence, even in self-defense or to prevent worse violence, together with the naive belief that governments create prosperity, is so great with people who have been taught dependence on the state that they do seem - well, mad. I would expect Americans, at least of my generation, to be perverse enough to give terrorists the finger and vote for the war president just to show that they can't be cowed by a bunch of criminals. Now, I'm not so sure.

More and more I'm impressed that political debate consists of careful explanation of what should be obvious by conservatives and a response by the left with slogans and dumb sophistries.