You coulnd't have put it much better than any of us. You are so right about the opinion of our Presidents elect! Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy Stockdill" <roystock@compuserve.com> To: <NEWGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 6:06 AM Subject: [NEWGEN] Election Day Dr Bill wrote..... >>Vote your conscience, but for heavens sake VOTE.<< I EXPECT I will get a barrage of abuse heaped on my head as an outsider butting in on America's private affairs, but I thought you folks might like to know how the US election is being seen over here by the British media. The Daily Mail, a popular, middle-market national daily tabloid, probably sums it up when they describe it as a contest between "The Nerd" and "The Nincompoop." I don't, presumably, have to tell you which candidate they regard as which! This is a polite - no, perhaps not so polite - way of saying that neither candidate is too highly rated here. The same paper also publishes a report by its special correspondent covering the election that a poll shows that a quarter of all young Americans aged between 18 and 24 have never heard of either Gore or Bush! Can this be really true? Gore is portrayed as being a smart alec, too clever by half for your average redneck Joe Sixpack voter in Kansas, but very boring to most people, while I am afraid Bush is seen here as being somewhat...er, how can I put this delicately...shall we say, "intellectually challenged". Whereas Clinton had trouble keeping his trousers on, George W. Bush is seen by most commentators here as a man who has trouble finding his own fly buttons! What worries the commentators is that a man who aspires to be president of the most powerful nation on earth has such an insular view of the world that he has only ever been outside America three times, has never once been to Europe and appears never to have heard of any other world leaders. Our media are asking how he will deal with the likes of the Russiaian president, the Chinese and our own Tony Blair, who is one of the smartest politicians who ever lived and formed an outstanding personal rapport with Clinton. Bush's verbal gaffes and his apparent inability to string more than four words together coherently have been much seized upon, plus his alcoholism, drink-driving case and lack of interest in the environment (we are told he has turned Texas into the most polluted state in America). No-one seems to have much to say about Gore, but the word "boring" crops up quite a lot. In an interesting way it mirrors our own situation. We have a clever-dick prime minister who is intellectually brilliant but seen by many as a man who cannot be trusted, while the Tory leader William Hague is widely regarded as an overgrown schoolboy with the brain power of a retarded hamster. Politicians, who needs 'em! Personally, when I was last over in your country back in May this year, I don't recall hearing anyone discussing the upcoming election at all. There seemed to be a distinct lack of interest at that time. As I pointed out at the start of this message, I am merely giving you the wider view from this side of the pond, not necessarily my own, so keep the flames mild, eh!!! Roy Stockdill Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies The Stockdill Family History Society (Guild of One-Name Studies, FedFHS) STOCKDILL PREST YELLOW BOLTON WORSNOP GIBSON MIDGLEY BRACEWELL SHACKLETON BRADLEY MOODY in Yorkshire North & West Ridings MEAD YOUNG in Somerset, Wiltshire & Gloucestershire Web page of the Stockdill Family History Society:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- http://www.one-name.org "Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you. If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and humorist 1771-1845) ==== NEWGEN Mailing List ==== HTTP://WWW.DR-FOX.COM HAS A LINKS PAGE WITH MANY, MANY HOOK-UPS TO VALUABLE INFORMATION SITES.