ABSTRACT
This chapter exposes the wave of French-bashing that struck the US during the George W. Bush administration then moves on to consider French views of the US and of the candidates. This leads to a reflection on US-France relations in general then a consideration of France-Europe relations. The question the discursive event raises is why it was so important to dismiss the right of France to disagree with the US and to transform its show of resistance into cowardice, hysteria, duplicity and irrationality? In France, the expansive geo-historical role is referred to as the mission civilisatrice while in the US it goes by a host of titles such as "spreading freedom," "promoting democracy," "protecting liberty" and the like, and it builds on the 19th century concept of manifest destiny embodied in the vision of American territorial conquest as God's will.
