After Gerald Ford goofed in last week's debates, asserting that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe," eyebrows shot up throughout Western Europe. A small group of Britons, watching a tape of the debates in London, guffawed at the remark, not believing their ears. West Germany's respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung commented that such a statement "cannot but make our hair stand on end."
Despite Ford's gaffe and Carter's extensive talk about the need for "morality" in U.S. foreign policy (a concern with which pragmatic Europeans have little patience) the race is widely viewed...