Sarko vs. Royal, Don't Read if You Don't Give A Phoque About French Presidential Politics

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Sundar you're right but she didn't "declare her support for Quebec sovereignty". The newspapers, ready to land on her head like a grand piano, spun what she said into that.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

Journalist: "Quelles sont vos affinités avec la souveraineté du Québec?"

Royal: "Elles sont conformes aux valeurs qui nous sont communes, c'est-à-dire la souveraineté et la liberté du Québec. Je pense que le rayonnement du Québec et la place qu'il occupe dans le coeur des Français vont dans ce sens".

I don't think there are too many different ways of interpreting that. She most certainly did "declare her support for Quebec sovereignty".

― underpants of the gods, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

Well it's hardly "Vive le Quebec libre", which is what De Gaulle said!

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

sundar I have the same question as you, I mean, is "right wing" sarko actually any further to the right than hillary clinton, joe biden, chris dodd?

― daria-g, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

Well it's hardly "Vive le Quebec libre", which is what De Gaulle said!

Well it's not as punchy as that, but it amounts to much the same thing. It was a very silly thing to have said, when she could so easily have batted the question into the long grass. It's as if Hillary Clinton had come to the UK and started talking about the sovereignty and liberty of Scotland or Wales.

is "right wing" sarko actually any further to the right than hillary clinton, joe biden, chris dodd?

It's very hard to make comparisons. Despite his bluster, I don't think Sarkozy will turn out to be much of a neo-liberal free marketeer. His instincts are protectionist, for a start. He'll be more of an archaic, authoritarian, police-state right-winger, cutting tax for his rich buddies but otherwise keeping a firm hand on the till of the state.

― underpants of the gods, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

aka "Let the big dogs eat"

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

― baaderonixx, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

i had dinner with a vacationing frenchwoman last night. she rolled her eyes when i asked about sarkozy and said about royal, "i could never vote for someone who dresses like that." so much for my eagerly-anticipated discussion of french politics, then.

― lauren, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

How was she dressed?

― baaderonixx, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

It's as if Hillary Clinton had come to the UK and started talking about the sovereignty and liberty of Scotland or Wales.

It's not though. French politicians have always weighed in about Quebec. I agree she should have just kept schtum. Nothing substantive she could have said would have been taken well.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

the dinner guest? she was dressed very well.

― lauren, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

royal not exactly the sharpest dresser is she?

― daria-g, Monday, 7 May 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

She looked pretty cool during the debate, I thought.

― baaderonixx, Monday, 7 May 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

you start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul

― RJG, Monday, 7 May 2007 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

More rioting this evening, according to Le Figaro.

― Cathy, Monday, 7 May 2007 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Cu9187tCY

― Ned Trifle II, Monday, 7 May 2007 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

Nicholas and Tony, sitting in a tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g...

― Ned Trifle II, Monday, 7 May 2007 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

ohlala, blair's accent is unbearable, i mean, he clearly has worked on it, but it's so anglophone.. hahaha

― daria-g, Monday, 7 May 2007 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

I think I might be proud of them for rioting. I'd have to read more about it though.

― Casuistry, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 04:47 (nineteen years ago)

ohlala, blair's accent is unbearable, i mean, he clearly has worked on it, but it's so anglophone.. hahaha

Possibly, but at least Blair speaks French. Sarkozy doesn't speak English. Which seems quite bizarre, in this day and age.

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:07 (nineteen years ago)

Did Chirac speak English?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:08 (nineteen years ago)

Yes. Not spectacularly well, but good enough to be interviewed on CNN.

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:10 (nineteen years ago)

Cartoon in a Belgian paper today: "celebratory fires after Sarkozy's election"

http://i16.tinypic.com/4p3rywm.jpg

― StanM, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:14 (nineteen years ago)

;_;

― kv_nol, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:43 (nineteen years ago)

French people be riotin'

― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:45 (nineteen years ago)

politicians should study Sarko's campaign.

how the f*ck a right-wing candidate, after decades of conservative rule, could position himself as the guy who will shake up the status quo - i mean it's a coup of logic. it's amazing.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

Which US republicans are going to be cribbing his style?

― Ed, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

Because he is presenting himself as a radical (neo-liberal) right-winger and not a conservative right-winger?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:12 (nineteen years ago)

It has to be said that Chirac/Villepin played the meme as well, presenting themselves as some sort of continuity and upholders of the "French model", leaving Sarkozy to run with "rupture".

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/205/489916019_e1cc6e1b99_o.jpg

― Ed, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

how the f*ck a right-wing candidate, after decades of conservative rule, could position himself as the guy who will shake up the status quo - i mean it's a coup of logic. it's amazing.

Blair managed it.

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

Dude! What's with the gurn?

http://i13.tinypic.com/4yiv5f4.jpg http://i10.tinypic.com/67gyfxi.jpg

― StanM, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 11:26 (nineteen years ago)

This made me feel a bit better.

Sarkozy does look like something out of Asterix and Obelix there. What's wrong with hus teeth one wonders.

― kv_nol, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 12:32 (nineteen years ago)

"I don't see myself as First Lady - the whole idea bores me "

hilarious! I hope she said it with sunglasses posed on the end of her nose and puffed a cigarette for punctuation. She's a sexy lady

― King Kitty, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 13:59 (nineteen years ago)

i think stevem, should be told, about this thread.

-- That one guy that quit, Sunday, 6 May 2007 23:43 (1 week ago)

?

― blueski, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

NRQ just wanted you to be up to speed with French politics. Nice chap.

― kv_nol, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

most odd.

― blueski, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

i had this somewhat explained to me yesterday! and read some of a french mainstream news magazine in which there were also political cartoons.

however, i still have no patience for politics/politicians or conversations abt politics :/
am into issues. e.g., i cannot believe the french educational system

― rrrobyn, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

What's wrong with the French educational system?

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

parents are responsible for their kids until they are 25 yrs old, everyone pretty much has to go to some kind of post-highschool education even though it may be of dubious quality and sometimes only there to keep kids 'off the streets' or off welfare, yet when they graduate they can't nec find a job in their field (unemployment is high despite 'educated' workers), more minor but ugh - kids get a half-day on wednesday but have to go to school on saturday, etc.

basically that the bureaucracy seems out of hand/control, to me, but i am not french obv and am increasingly frustrated by bureaucracy in general. and obv i do not know a lot abt french politics in the first place, so in fact am not actually criticizing but rather am just being 'whoa' about it from my own point of view and am actually spending my criticism dollars on the canadian system.

― rrrobyn, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

Tom D. that's a good point.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

But sort of tautological.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Certainly the left is as capable of 'conservatism' as much as the right, inasmuch as they wish to conserve the 'acquis sociaux' and don't wish to liberalize labor, pension, and other laws. Considering that the Gaullist right and the socialist left have both been less than enthusiastic about free-trade and laissez-faire economics, portraying oneself as more libertarian economically can be seen as more 'reformist' if you buy that narrative. Lots of French people do, apparently, but I think by American or British standards, Sarko is more of a Blair than a Thatcher.

― Michael White, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

"how the f*ck a right-wing candidate, after decades of conservative rule, could position himself as the guy who will shake up the status quo - i mean it's a coup of logic. it's amazing."

bob roberts!!

― Frogman Henry, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

sarko otm:

http://emmanuelle-romania2004.buzznet.com/user/photos/?id=12677001

― gff, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

Ha ha!

― Michael White, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Well <a href="http://tracerhand.wordpress.com/2007/09/14/french-dna-testing-for-immigrants/";>this</a> is a novel idea. (Note shameless spamming.)

I think the reason I'm not doing commentary on that site is that stuff like this honestly just leaves me speechless.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 14 September 2007 11:33 (eighteen years ago)

GAH

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 14 September 2007 11:33 (eighteen years ago)

this

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 14 September 2007 11:35 (eighteen years ago)

And like I said, speechless.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 14 September 2007 11:35 (eighteen years ago)

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