Symbolic Gestures

Hey all you people avoiding wine, or perhaps pouring it into the sewer, perhaps you'd like to consider these words of Alan Reynolds.

"I don't see why anyone would single-out French winemakers for financial punishment, but the boycott may not be able to accomplish even that dubious objective. The reason should be obvious: Any French wine you see in U.S. stores has already been bought and paid for by U.S. distributors and retailers. The French have our money, and we have their wine. Who is actually being threatened with a boycott, at least for the foreseeable future, are U.S. wine merchants.

Still you may not want to pay too much attention to Mr. Reynolds, given his insufficient hatred of the French, as evidenced by the following paragraph.

. . . I don't see how people manage to get angry at an entire nation, and particularly at only one of many nations opposing the Iraq war (if the Germans had a U.N. veto don't you think they'd have used it?). Many Americans who are enormously fond of President Bush have, like the French, worried that he may be jumping into a big, nasty tar pit. If the war goes well, U.S. skeptics and the French government will end up looking too timid and a bit foolish."

One wonders if he has heard of the plan to give the Statue of Liberty back to the French.