The World View

George Bush addressed a political fund-raising dinner in California last night (at US$2000 per head) and claimed:

"It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depends on the actions of America."

So much for the UN, then. Maybe he meant that if Americans can restrain him from further violent attacks, there might yet be a chance for peace?

It is interesting to compare how the Californian fundraiser was reported in the US and abroad. The Hindu in India, for example, showed a picture of protestors at the gate, focussed on the above quote and mentioned that the Bush re-election campaign "hopes to rake in some $170 millions — some GOP insiders believe that $200 millions is not an impossibility. "

By contrast, the San Francisco Chronicle's report is basically an amalgamation of positive, pro-Bush quotes from the dinner guests at the fund-raiser. The anti-Bush sentiment is brushed aside in the second half of this long article:

"Although dissenters lined up outside both events, inside the president was interrupted by applause a number of times and received only praise from his audiences."

The article concludes with an attack on California's state Democratic leader.