The American Spectator

An Anti-American Election : /p> p>Those topless billboards sound Weimar-ish; this is all the more reason to be concerned, for after Weimar comes the reaction. br> — Jim Stevenson /p>

I was very interested to read Nichols’ article. Here is Hans Eichel’s reaction to Bush’s UN speech today:

“In Germany — where the government has been Europe’s staunchest opponent of an attack on Iraq — Finance Minister Hans Eichel warned that a military campaign on Baghdad was the only thing that could wreck Germany’s economic recovery.”

p>The only thing, huh? br> — Brian Hoffman /p>

While your article raises many good points, there is one element in the current mix that the author passed over. The impact of the conversion to the euro on the average German cannot be underestimated. My parents, both of German birth (and now proud Americans) recently visited their kin. One of the bits of news they brought back was the near-universal anger (at least amongst their friends and kinsmen) over the euro’s impact on their pocket books.

To put the problem into the simplest of terms, imagine waking up one morning and finding your paycheck slashed in half, and the prices for everything you need suddenly 10-50% higher. To put it mildly, they’re p.o.’d big time. It’ll be interesting as the election gets closer to see if either candidate plays the “euro card” against the other.