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01/28/2003 Archived Entry: "Two men I like"

TWO MEN I LIKE: One I knew I liked, the other I wasn't so sure about. Golfer Greg Norman yesterday came out swinging for America during a press conference when unprompted he declared his support for the United States and Australian involvement in a war against Iraq.

"We've been side by side with the Americans in every war America has fought. We are great, loyal allies. It is what Australia has to do. Wherever America goes, Australia is going to be with it, a la Bali. We should be there [in Iraq], absolutely ... we have to be with them," said Norman.

"We have a lot of what democratic society gives us, our freedom of speech. If we lose that ..."

Now Ron Silver I was never a particularly big fan of but I admired his skill at acting. That said, Silver is a liberal that makes Hollywood liberals like conservative. During the Davos summit in Switzerland yesterday, Silver took on Patrick Cox, the president of the European Union parliament, for hinting that America wanted to be an imperial power. I copy this straight from today's Bleat by James Lileks/Wall Street Journal.

"In formal panels, in corridors and at normally genteel dinners, tempers flared. At one dinner of poached salmon, Patrick Cox, the president of the European Union parliament, blasted the US for its go-it-alone approach. 'The real Europe has values,' he said. 'Our imperial days are over, and thank God for that.'

"Ron Silver, the US actor and political activist, jumped up from a table across the room to retort that if it weren't for the US, hundreds of thousands more civilians would have died in the Balkans, while Europe sat idly by. The US had no interest in that region other than humanitarian, he said. 'We are not an imperial government, Mr. Cox,’ he said. 'You know that, and everyone here knows that.'"

Damn right. Congrats to both men for getting it.