in which, like a broken clock, our president is right twice in one day

From CNN.com

U.S. President George W. Bush has repeated a call for the European Union to admit Turkey, despite criticism by France's President Jacques Chirac that he was meddling in EU affairs.

[...]

"Including Turkey in the EU would prove that Europe is not the exclusive club of a single religion, and it would expose the 'clash of civilizations' as a passing myth of history," Bush said.

Chirac took Bush to task Monday over his call for Turkey's admission to the European Union.

"If President Bush really said that in the way that I read, then not only did he go too far, but he went into territory that isn't his," Chirac said of a remark Bush made over the weekend.

"It is is not his purpose and his goal to give any advice to the EU, and in this area it was a bit as if I were to tell Americans how they should handle their relationship with Mexico."

JFW sides with GWB both on the support for Turkey in the EU and, more importantly and more adamantly, the appropriateness of the US offering a stance on the matter. Indeed, JFW considers Chirac's statement to be so provincial as to be a little scary. If French politicians believe that something needs to be changed about the US-Mexico relationship, by all means they should speak up. Dear God. Geographically proximate sovereign nations are not like family members, where some matters might be considered private and not for anyone outside to judge. (Indeed, I'm leery of taking too far the idea of a moral right to tell others to keep opinions to themselves even when one is actually talking about familial affairs instead of international affairs.)

Update, 7:30 AM: Nina disagrees, strongly! She hasn't yet threatened to take away my banner of blogger stardom. She has, however, placed a call to Robert Novak about how my mom is actually a covert CIA operative.