Guest guest Posted November 8, 2000 Report Share Posted November 8, 2000 In a message dated 11/8/00 1:42:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, rhodes10 writes: << Subj: [gjlist] recounting 11/8/00 1:42:26 PM Eastern Standard Time rhodes10 (Rhoda Reporter) Reply-to: <A HREF="gjlist ">gjlist </A> gjlist almost true about the retro syndrome!! >> almost?! this is just one thing from the news wire...... and keep in mind that this Mercury Retrograde was at an exact station to turn direct... " World Watches US Election Amusingly By LAURA KING ..c The Associated Press LONDON (AP) - World leaders offered congratulations - then hastily took them back. Newspapers hurriedly rolled out new editions. And from Hong Kong to Helsinki, ordinary citizens marveled at America's chaotic electoral spectacle. ``It's like Italy!'' said the proprietor of a Roman coffee bar. For a watching world, a full day of confusion over the results of the U.S. presidential race was a lesson in democracy's messy glory - or proof that the political system in the world's most powerful nation might just be in need of an overhaul. Rushing to congratulate the winner was an early and oft-repeated mistake.>>>>>> European Commission President Romano Prodi was among the first to compliment George W. Bush on his election as president - and among the first to repent his haste. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>Forty minutes after German President Johannes Rau circulated his letter congratulating Bush in the name of the German people, his office faxed an excited follow-up: ``Please don't publicize the president's congratulations to George W. Bush!! Too late. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>The Dutch government put out a congratulatory statement - then retracted it. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark, was all set to get down to brass tacks with the presumptive winner, mentioning the new round of world trade talks in her congratulatory note to Bush. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>In every corner of the world, newspapers rushed to correct early editions proclaiming Bush the victor. ``Bush wins,'' read the early-edition headline in London's Evening Standard. That was transformed in the second edition to ``Deadlock.'' <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< In Seoul, the English-language Korea Times ran a banner headline: ``Bush Elected U.S. President.'' ``The U.S. Decides: Bush!'' said Mexico's respected daily Reforma. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>In Johannesburg, The Star newspaper sent out 20,000 copies of its afternoon addition with the banner headline: ``Bush is President.'' Then it dispatched an extra 30,000 copies with a new headline: ``Bush Win in Doubt.'' <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< A safer approach was to treat the election as a political who-won-it, akin to a juicy murder mystery. Sweden's Expressen newspaper called it a thriller, while a Swiss TV anchor likened the vote to a Hitchcock movie. ``The script for the American elections seems to have been written by a master of suspense,'' said Lisbon's A Capital newspaper. For many observers, long hours of waiting failed to pay off. ``To tell you the truth, we didn't know what to believe,'' a weary Mithat Bereket, foreign news editor of Turkey's private NTV news channel, said after an inconclusive all-night election special. In Italy, no stranger to political chaos - and home to notoriously untrustworthy exit polls - many were amazed that the more scientific American approach had failed to produce a reliable result. ``What happened in Florida? It sounds like Italy!'' said coffee bar proprietor Massimo Ruggeri. Other observers worried that the results pointed up fundamental problems with the American political system. Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson called the outcome ``strange'' and predicted it would lead to a constitutional debate. Former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told Ekho Moskvy radio that whatever the outcome, ``one might expect an amendment to the U.S. constitution aimed at improving the election process.'' Others saw a deeply - and perhaps dangerously - divided America. ``The U.S.A., in modern times, has never been as clearly split,'' analyst Ole Ludvig Nymoen wrote in a commentary for Norway's NTB news agency. In Israel, even a nation of political junkies wearied of long discourses on the complexities of the U.S. electoral system. As one expert detailed the circumstances under which the selection could be thrown to the U.S. House of Representatives, radio anchor Mickey Miro cut in to plead: ``That's about all we can take for now.'' Some disapproved of the slow vote count. ``It's unreasonable in such a big and advanced country,'' said Joseph Leung, 24, a Hong Kong government worker. ``It sets a bad example.'' But others were energized by what they saw as a dazzling display of democracy in action. ``It was so exciting - really exciting, I thought,'' said retired German schoolteacher Wilfred Hensel. Americans overseas suddenly saw themselves as key players in the electoral drama. Joanne Sechrest of Memphis, Tenn., a U.S. Air Force servicewoman in Japan, said she was proud to have cast a ballot. ``I'm happy that I voted absentee. It seems this time my vote will really matter,'' she said. ``I think this will encourage everybody to take voting seriously in the future.'' In the West African nation of Sierra Leone, torn by a bloody nine-year civil war, 18-year-old student Newton Marlin suggested that if Americans couldn't agree on a winner, they might consider a compromise. ``Let Al Gore govern for two years and George Bush for the other two years,'' he said. " AP-NY-11-08-00 1356EST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2000 Report Share Posted November 8, 2000 almost true about the retro syndrome!! Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one Place. / Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.