No allies in Iraq?

I'm still not sure I understand where you are going on this.

I would hope it was obvious that my comments concerning the Polish president (who did actually express displeasure, and a sense that Poland's contribution to the war were being unfairly minimized) were of a sardonic nature, and not intended to demean him, but perhaps not.

I did not know the term Pollack had an anti-semitic component to it. In my old NY neighborhood it was used to disparagingly refer to any individual of Polish descent.

I find it both amusing and revealing that we have a candidate in this race who professes be someone who can mend allegedly frayed relationships between the US and its allies, but then turns around (and with a greater degree of callous insensitivity than anything exhibited by Bush) refers to a large group of our allies as The Coalition of the Coerced and Bribed.

I also find it amusing that Mr Kerry's supporters allow themselves to try and spin this comment into something that is either somewhat positive ("It's the truth!) or at worst, neutral ("They weren't insulted!")

The Polish president, at least, did express displeasure with the remark.

Perhaps it is because he is Polish and not French that they are able to dismiss his reaction out of hand.

Perhaps it is because they refuse to acknowledge that not only was Kerry's comment inappropriate and insulting, it contradicts one of the key elements of the profile he is trying to sell us all. Which would be a rather stubborn position, don't you think?

If 'Pollack' isn't used in an anti-semistic way, it's just 'simply' insulting.

But may well be, your neighbourhood was an island in the use of some terms of American English.

Walter, Pollack is definitely an insulting term here in the United States. It does not necessarily refer to Polish Jews, but simply to Poles. Any American who claims not to have known this is an insulting term is a liar.

Let's rate these as insults

Heeb
Wop
Guinea
Mick
Towelhead


Come on folks...let's get enlightened; a slur is a slur is a slur

Well, might be such insults cost you some hundred bucks here that I'm getting a bit angry about that.

Or, because the Nazis used the term "it's only a Pollak" when they died.

Or, simply because I don't like, when someone is disparaged because his origin or religion or race or ... and this since more than 400 years.

The war in Iraq is progressing well - for the insurgents.
**********
Rocket Attack in Central Baghdad, Hotels Targeted

7 minutes ago Top Stories - Reuters



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least two rockets were fired toward the Sheraton and Palestine hotels in central Baghdad on Thursday and a fire broke out in the area, witnesses said.



Shortly after the attack, bursts of gunfire could be heard echoing across the city center. Flames and smoke could be seen rising from the area around the Sheraton hotel, used by foreign contractors and journalists.


There were no immediate reports of any casualties.


A tree was on fire at the front entrance to the hotel, which stands across the Tigris river from the heavily fortified Green Zone, a complex housing the interim Iraqi government and U.S. and British embassies.


A resident of the hotel said one rocket had hit a room on the first floor and a second explosion followed immediately afterwards.


Insurgents have attacked the Sheraton and Palestine, which stand alongside one another inside a fortified wall and guarded by U.S. troops, several times over the past year, often firing mortars toward the buildings.

Just wondering; how many red alerts do they have in Baghdad?

all quotes from above mentioned source

http://www.bushflash.com/1000.html

Still unsure of what you're trying to say here Walter, but I am beginning to think you are accusing me of insulting someone. (Actually, I guess I am, but not in the way it appears you think I am).

Let's try this one last time:

I know "Pollack" is an ethnic slur (I just didn't know it had a Jewish component)

I don't use ethnic slurs to insult people.

I did not use "Pollack" to insult the Polish president.

I used the term sardonically to suggest (and here's where what might amount to an actual insult comes into play) that Kerry's apologists who contend his "coerced and bribed" comments did not insult anyone, came to that conclusion because they perceive these allies as being of less worth than the French; that our Polish allies are simply "Pollacks" who can be insulted without real concern.

Clearly any quip that needs this degree of explanation has been lost on the reader, but I respect you Walter and would not want you to continue to labor under what might be a false impression of me. I have numerous faults, but ethnic or racial bigotry is not among them. Having said this, if you still don't get it, I give up.

Just so this is not an entirely wasted posting I refer posters to this
LINK.

Apparently that sensitive and grandiloquent diplomat, Kerry of Vietnam has a habit of insulting our allies when they join us in an endeavor which he has some political reason to oppose:

This of the first Gulf Coalition partners:

But I'm sure his apologists don't find this insulting either.