February 22, 2007
Bush: a major player in the French, 2007 presidential election
Who would have thought the French Left would use anti-Americanism as a weapon to lure more voters?
Incredible as it may seem, George W. Bush's name surfaces here and there as the example not to follow. Of course, France is so successful in everything these days, she can easily lecture about examples not to follow.
It all started with Sarkozy being described by the Socialist Party as a neocon.
One chapter is entitled "Nicolas Sarkozy or the Clone of Bush." A memorable sentence, among many such gems, says: "Yesterday Europe was importing jeans, coke, rock 'n' roll and cinema from the United States. Now Nicolas Sarkozy is proposing that we import God!"(...)
The death penalty, torture, renditions, secret prisons, short or non-existent vacations, absent or expensive health care, a Darwinian labor market and the worship of "the individualist entrepreneur" complete this happy picture of France's ally.
"It is in this," the Socialists conclude triumphantly, "that Nicolas Sarkozy sees the future of French society!"
Regularly, when candidates from the so-called far-right party of Jean-Marie Le Pen or from the far-left are invited on TV, it inevitably, at one point, ends up being about France not wanting to be like America, about Sarkozy being Bush's ally.
Rest assured, my "fellow" citizens, that France is far, far, far from being like America.
Le Pen, who claims he's having a hard time getting the 500 signatures from French mayors necessary to be a candidate at the French presidential election, has find a way to try and get more. Hateful, revisionist anti-Americanism:
French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has dismissed the September 11, 2001 attacks as an "incident", saying the death toll of 3 000 was equal to the number of people killed in Iraq in a month.Le Pen made the comment in an interview published on Wednesday with the Catholic newspaper La Croix during which he praised Islamic leaders for condemning the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
"The September 11 event, or one could say incident, prompted a certain number of people to distance themselves (from Islamic extremism) to avoid falling under the barrage of accusations that was then unleashed," said Le Pen.
Commenting on the death toll from the attacks, Le Pen said: "3 000 dead, that is how many die in Iraq in a month and it's far less than the deaths in the Marseille or Dresden bombings at the end of the Second World War."
The National Front leader said the World War II bombings were "also terrorist acts as they expressly targeted civilians to force military leaders to capitulate".
And you thought the level of American politics was, well, not very high?
The Sarkozy=Bush is having fans. Here are two pictures taken in the streets of Paris this past month. Very smart, very discerning. Weasels.
See how this man loves France when away! - With Sarkozy, France will no longer be arrogant abroad… but at home, he is as much as ever - Beginning May 6, France after L'UMP
Check also here.
NICOLAS SARKOZY - TOGETHER EVERYTHING BECOMES POSSIBLE
[Handwritten graffiti] Bush+Le Pen=Sarkozy
The problem with this comparison, beside the fact that it is utterly anti-American, is that Sarkozy is no Bush.
During the 2005 riots in the suburbs, the police had to show restraint and the weapons of those who were legally armed were confiscated for fear that law-abiding citizens defend themselves.
During the 2006 students riots, he asked that the police protect the rioters against, er, looters.
He has proven that he is far from being pro-markets:
Sarkozy, in his short time in the finance post, has sent strongly conflicting signals. On one hand he has intervened aggressively in corporate affairs, for example in a takeover and in warning supermarkets and banks to cut their prices and generally distancing himself from the image of being a clear-cut proponent of market, or "ultra liberal", policies.On the other hand, he holds to the line that change is morally right and economically vital: hence the Camdessus report.
Sarkozy summed this up succinctly while attending a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxemburg last Thursday. He observed: "It does me good to come to these European meetings. I fell more in the centre ... It is only in France that I am taken for a [classical] liberal."
Finally, despite insisting a number of times on the fact that the United States should be considered as a friend and ally, not as an enemy, he is hardly a poodle of Washington. He has positioned himself as against the liberation of Iraq and has congratulated Chirac on his stand in 2003. So far he has been against a military intervention in Iran.
He is also against the death penalty and criticized the execution of Saddam Hussein as a "mistake".
Posted by Carine at February 22, 2007 11:45 AM
