June 11, 2007
Pave: Sarkomania Redux
Le jour 27 de Sarko
The French press loves American hardships (please, none of this fluff), fairy tales, crybabies, and short fuses. [Short pause.] And the wrack of politics.
RUDDERLESS SOCIALISTS FACE WIPE-OUT IN FRENCH ELECTION
PARIS, June 8, 2007 (AFP) - Reeling from Segolene Royal's defeat in the presidential race, France's Socialist Party (PS) faces the prospect of a humiliating wipe-out in this weekend's legislative elections which look set to deliver a huge majority for President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The left's idea of change is Ségo. All the old left nostrums repackaged in a skirt and a lot of first-woman-ever blather. Oh, very retro 20th century.
SMALL PARTIES CRUSHED IN FRENCH ELECTIONS
PARIS June 10, 2007 (FT) - François Bayrou, the centrist who claimed to have broken the mould of French politics...has suffered a spectacular collapse in his fortunes.His Mouvement Démocrate [Modem] party won only 7 per cent of the vote, according to estimates by Ipsos, meaning it will have only a handful of deputies, far short of the 20 required to register as a formal parliamentary grouping.
M. Bayrou's Modem was never a credible organizing force for oppositional politics. Modem was never much more than M. Bayrou and M. Bayrou was never much more than a newspaper romance.
The communists also look set to disappear from parliament as a formal group, after winning only 3 per cent together with the other far-left parties, according to Ipsos.
They are also rumored to be bankrupts (click through to first story above). Bankrupt Communists. [Pause.] Just what sort of Communists go bankrupt? Ho, Communists in cahoots with capitalism.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front also continued its sharp decline, winning 5 per cent compared with 11 per cent in 2002, and is once again likely to be left without parliamentary representation.
Not so much a loss to political opposition as it is a loss to political circus (and this and this).
SARKOZY’S PARTY HEADS TOWARD
HUGE LEGISLATIVE MAJORITY IN FRANCE
PARIS June 11, 2007 (NYT) - President Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right party was on course to win an overwhelming parliamentary majority after the first round of French legislative elections on Sunday, cementing his power to enact changes that he says are needed to rescue France from economic and social malaise.Mr. Sarkozy’s party, the Union for a Popular Movement won 39.54 percent of the vote, according to a final tally by the Interior Ministry. That could give the party and its allies as many as 501 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly after the second-round vote on June 17, pollsters said.
The main opposition, the Socialist Party, received 24.73 percent, meaning that it could lose more than half of its 149 seats, pollsters projected. The result reinforced the disarray on the left since its presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal, lost to Mr. Sarkozy last month.
The opposition has strong objections to losing.
CZAR NICOLAS?
OPPONENTS SAY PRESIDENT HAS TOO MUCH POWER
PARIS June 10, 2007 (AFP)
Oh, boo HOO hoo. How we weep. We are big believers in oppositional politics, in a strong opposition. What kind of opposition cannot unseat a failed government of 12 years standing, widely despised, widely condemned, and weak as a kitten? An opposition that has even less appeal, is even weaker than a kitten.
Voters vote in parties with winning ideas and the steel to fight for those ideas. The left is a political opposition bereft of ideas. Or, another way to look at the left is an opposition replete with old ideas, bad ideas, failed ideas, and mush. The left typically thinks it is enough to complain with promises to sort everything out once in power. [Pause.] And they wonder at being perennial losers.
TURNOUT IN FRENCH GENERAL ELECTION
HEADED FOR RECORD LOW
PARIS June 10, 2007 (AFP) - The CSA polling institute estimated that the number of voters who did not bother to make their electoral choice looked set to reach 37 percent by the time all voting stations close at 8:00 pm.That would be be the highest abstention rate in a first round parliamentary vote since France's Fifth Republic was established in 1958.
Yes. Well, we're all a little weary of the French political season.
PFFT (What is this?): The endangered left 3½ | Electoral fatigue 4 | Rayonnement français ½
Posted by Damian at June 11, 2007 07:15 PMBushiemania in Albania, where Even the war in Iraq is popular. Bush has not seen crowds like that since…well, since…geez, I don't know...
Couldn't help notice your link the the New York Slimes…and their quote: Mr. Sarkozy says he plans to cut taxes, tighten punishment for repeat lawbreakers and make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers.
Ouch, that must have hurt them to write that.
No mention of the elimination of the inheritance tax, mortgage interest payments made tax deductible, 50% cap on individual taxation – all things that have helped Bush's economy move right along (of course, never a mention of that in the Times). I have a question on one plan of Sarkozy: Make overtime work exempt from taxation – does that mean free from all taxes?
Also of note was the headline in the Washington Times today (Monday 11 June): Sarkozy allies head for landslide. Second lead story was about the Communists in France (story by the London Sunday Telegraph) about Commies selling artwork since funds from KGB have dried up.
Posted by: andy at June 12, 2007 05:01 AMAndy,
Ah, the inheritance tax is scheduled to return at a top rate of 55% in 2010 if tax law is not amended in the interim. Otherwise we must all die in 2009 to take advantage of the lowest rate afforded under current law.
Sarko's first 100 days will be telling in a way that Jack's many first 100 days (e.g., 1995, 2002, the "new impulse" government of 2005) weren't. Jack, much like Bill Clinton, once elected to high office didn't have much of an idea what to do and not much stomach for what needed doing. We must wait to see if Sarko survives his first reform slapdown from the public, whether he will slap back.
The destitute Commies deserve a separate post, which is in the works. Thanks.
DGB
Posted by: Damian at June 12, 2007 11:21 AMCouldn't help notice your link the the New York Times…and their quote: Mr. Sarkozy says he plans to cut taxes, tighten punishment for repeat lawbreakers and make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers.
Ouch, that must have hurt them to write that..
ANYTIME the NYT goes "ouch" it is worth celebrating. What this party needs is a theme song.
Miastro, if you please.
Life's like a road that you travel on
there's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There's a world outside every darkened door
Where blues won't haunt you anymore
Where the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won't hesitate
To break down the garden gate
We'll all be drinking Pinot Chardonnay.
{but don't drink and drive)
Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I wanna drive it all night long
Through all these cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I love you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are my friends
From Bretagne to those Rhone-Alpes
Roussilion to Calais
Knock me down, and back up again
You're in my blood I'm not a lonely man
There's no load I can't hold
road so rough, this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivors
{gitty up, gitty up, gitty up, gitty yeah!}
Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I want to drive it all night long
There was a distance between you and I
A misunderstanding once
But now we look it in the eye
{Vrrooom Vrrooom}
There ain't no load that you can't hold
No road so rough, that you can't roll
You'll be there when the light comes in
To tell 'em we're survivors
Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you see things my way
I want to drive it all night long
Video goodness! {animated version}
Original {with harmonica}
Vive République française.
La Liberté guidant le peuple. Again!
I am a little more optimistic then Andy.
It seems to me that with Sarkozy at the helm, French legal will be exponentially more likely to snuff out the next Ayatollah Komehni or Ho Chi Men before they have a following.
More generally I believe the French under Sarkozy will be unable to avoid benefiting the United States in in obvious and in direct ways.
Sort of like when the San Franciscans pass a city ordinance, like clockwork, Sacramento property values rise.
