Pave: Battle Of The Losers

Le jour 126 de Sarko

I'm fed up with the false, petty civil war.

Bernard Kouchner,
foreign minister and Socialist luminary,
explaining his disenchantment with the Parti Socialiste
PARIS August 27, 2007 (MSNBC/FT)

Most papers these days seem to be written only to make us loathe mankind.

Sylviane Agacinski,
wife of Lionel Jospin, commenting on coverage
of her husband's failed presidential bid
Journal interrompu : 24 janvier-25 mai 2002
(Paris: Seuil, 2002)

Once again the Parti Socialiste beggars our mock. We can't do better than to cut-and-paste this stuff.

ROYAL DOWN, NOT OUT

PARIS August 27, 2007 (New Age/Reuters) - Defeated French presidential candidate Segolene Royal broke two months of silence to stake her claim to lead the Socialists. Ms Royal told supporters in western France she had returned from her holiday a "new" woman.

FORMER FRENCH SOCIALS PRIME MINISTER
SLAMS SECOND RATE SEGOLENE ROYAL

PARIS September 17, 2007 (AFP) - France's defeated presidential candidate Segolene Royal came under withering attack from fellow Socialist Lionel Jospin Monday, who described her as a "secondary figure in public life" unfit to head their party.

Jospin, who was the last Socialist prime minister, urged members not to choose her as their next leader at a congress next year, on the grounds that she "has neither the human qualities not the political capacities" to put the party back on track.

He made the comments in a book -- "The Impasse" [L'Impasse] -- extracts of which were printed in the left-wing Liberation newspaper.

Calling her "the candidate least capable of winning" [and who better to recognize the quality of incapable winning], Jospin described Royal's election campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this year as a "narcissistic face-to-face with public opinion".

Yes, that sounds really awful -- but where in French politics is the election that is not a "narcissistic face-to-face with public opinion"? Of course, the political masters of France consider public opinion a major annoyance and dream of the day when the EU will wholly displace direct representation.

Damien Leze over at Expatica neatly captures the irony:

It’s the fight of the losers, an entertaining verbal battle between the one who failed and one who never succeeded. Needless to say that they should think twice before taking each other’s advice.

PFFT (What is this?): Cutting a little throat for the good of the party 1½ | Rayonnement français 0