To: Jim McMannis who wrote (125282 ) 10/4/2000 3:51:56 PM From: jcholewa Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 1570562 OT, Re: Presidential knowledge > RE:"That's it, i'm voting for Bush. I like a President that only focuses on the important issues. Not knowing the name of the > PM of Canada proved to me he doesn't clog up his head with unimportant items." > LOL...glad to see someone put it all in perspective. Jim, I am still undecided with my vote in this election. In fact, I was slightly Goric, but Bush's comments regarding the Supreme Court this morning (I listened to the replay of the debates on the FOX network while setting up my new KT7-RAID based PC) gave me some reassurance and shifted me back to center. However, I think that your comment above is stupid. Immensely so, in fact. I think that the Lowest Servant of my country should be able to identify people of similar stature in every large country on the planet. That person should know everything relevant to those persons' political lives, because foreign policy is oft reliant on knowledge of foreign government execs. It would be nice if every normal person in my country knew the names of the Prime Minister of Canada. It would be nice if every average fellow could immediately come up with the name of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. But they can't. They don't have to. They don't involve themselves in events and affairs that requires them to know things of this nature. But I expect that if anyone in this country should know the names of the Presidents and Prime Ministers and so forth of other major countries, if should be the country's President. Personally, I think it's pathetic that you laugh at the importance of this. Now, this doesn't mean that I think Bush is a poorer choice for the Presidency. Hell, I think that the whole "Poutine" thing was unfair to Bush. There are a thousand scenarios that I could think of in which Bush was unable to properly hear him, or im which he was simply too inundated to pay attention to the obviously-intended-to-confuse comment from the comedian asking the question. But it is stupid to believe that a President should avoid knowing the names of other Presidents and Prime Ministers just so that "he doesn't clog up his head with unimportant items". The only thing more ludicrous I've seen this week is John Dvorak's anti-AMD tirade. -JC PS: Apologies if I insulted. Didn't mean that, I just get in a ranty mood something. I still hold you in high respect.