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Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Ex-President Fox has a new book out called Revolution of Hope, in English. Might make for an interesting read.

Has anyone read it, or seen an English version in a Mexican bookstore?

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

i've just read reviews. it sounds pretty funny.

MELEE · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:28 pm Post subject:

Anything with the words Fox, Revolution and Hope in them has got to be funny. Rolling Eyes

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

the reviews made it sound almost like tabloid gossip. he complains about bush's inability or unwillingness to ride horses at his ranch. he also talks about his butt being squeezed as a greeting from an african head of state. i'm sure there is more substance there but those points stood out to reviewers, so i'm guessing nothing earth-shattering. it's a foregone conclusion that any memoir by a mexican president will leave out 99% of the story. can you imagine actually reading an honest account of what's going on behind the scenes?

MELEE · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:39 pm Post subject:

Fox taught Mexico two things.
One, that they can survive without the PRI--this was a very important lesson and worthwhile, in 2000 Mexico need anyone not PRI to win, it didn't really matter who it was. Which leads us to the second lesson.
Two, any idiot can be president. Something we in the US have know since 1980.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

john_n_carolina · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 700 Location: n. carolina

MELEE · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject:

I was refering to presidents in general, in any presidential system.

john_n_carolina · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 700 Location: n. carolina

ok

just checking. but i don't agree 100% that anyone can become President of any democratic system nowadays. you have to pass many rounds of primaries, public scrutiny, etc and 2)...they're usually not idiots...I would put Clinton and Reagan in the Top 5 in the 20th Century...some put Clinton's IQ at close to or above 200.

we'll probably see in 2008 what happens in the US. if it was that easy, Dennis Rodman would run.

MELEE · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:20 pm Post subject:

A high IQ and Idiotship are not mutually exclusive.
Razz

Phil_K · Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 2041 Location: A World of my Own

john_n_carolina · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 700 Location: n. carolina

..yes, this is always a tough debate and im sure, unwinnable from either side. is grahamb waiting in the wings?? or, he's flown off??

always for me, the word "idiot" as a person never existed. i feel people. can do "idiotic" things from time to time, but i classify them as mistakes in human error / judgement.

e.g. drinking a 1/5 of Bourbon, going for a drive, and paralyzing yourself for the rest of your life. you're not an idiot for the rest of your life, just that one moment.

e.g. falling asleep with a cigarette and burning down your brand new house and family escapes, luckily. you lose everything, but you still have everything. just an idiot for a moment.

e.g. Bill Buckner, didn't bend all the way down at 1st base, and the '86 Mets go on to win the World Series. really big idiot for a few seconds, but not the rest of his life.

e.g. VP of major corp, seduces 22 year old secretary one night, and loses everything. his wife, family, job, stock options, etc...major idiot, but only that one night Smile

now, he can move on.

have you seen the movie (from Spain) "Huevos de Oro"??
classic idiotship, but in the end, you'll cry -- because, he finally realizes in the end how idiotic he acted and now can't go back in time.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107165/

or, the movie, "Pieces of April"...with the wife of Tom Cruise?? another great example. www.piecesofaprilmovie.com

the human soul is too fragile to be classified "long-term" as an idiot.

one could say Clinton was an idiot to engage Monica, because he had such a great legacy going for him. but what's strange, is there was a rebirth of the women's movement / women's right and a complete reevauluation of sexual discrimination.

what if he had done that on purpose??

MELEE · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:16 pm Post subject:

John, relax, mostly I'm just taking the piss.

But the point is, which you seemed to have missed, is that it doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to be a president. Yes, Clinton was one, but on a day to day basis, it didn't much matter to the people, case in point--Bush Jr.'s re-election, by then most people knew he was a little on the slow side, even the ones who voted for him. Before Fox, the average Mexican thought of their president as some sort of mysterious gentleman often with a foreign education--the Rhodes Scholar type. Something they couldn't ever actually aspire to. But Fox changed all that--they now know any ranch hand can do the job, they can even aspire to being CEO of Coke, which is probably a more prestigious position.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Melee wrote: