Sarkozy Says Press Is Free to Ignore His Personal Life

[Gunny]

By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Published: January 9, 2008

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to use the M word. Asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether he was going to marry model-turned-pop-singer Carla Bruni, he twice called their relationship “serious” but said that the news media probably would be the last to know.

“There’s a strong chance you’ll learn about it after it’s already happened,” Mr. Sarkozy said. He added: “It’s an answer. It’s not a threat.”

Brimming with emotion, Mr. Sarkozy defended himself as the first French leader with nothing to hide and urged journalists to ignore his personal life if they had had enough of it.

“I didn’t want to lie,” Mr. Sarkozy said of his romance with Ms. Bruni. “And I am breaking with a deplorable tradition in our political life — that of hypocrisy, that of lies.”

Without mentioning former President François Mitterrand by name, Mr. Sarkozy accused journalists of hypocrisy for knowing but not disclosing years ago the existence of a predecessor’s secret double life with a mistress and a daughter who was born out of wedlock. Mr. Mitterand died in 1996.

more ... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/w...502b9ee143653c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Never thought I'd like a French President again, but this guy impresses me more and more.

 

[onedomino]

Never thought I'd like a French President again, but this guy impresses me more and more.

Will the positive attitude that Americans have toward Sarko end up being inversely proportionate to his standing with the French? His poll numbers have declined. But to your point Gunny, I also like Sarko. If given a chance, he might be able to pull the French out of their obsessive navel inspection. If he can make economic reforms, perhaps the French can reverse their decline.

 

[Gunny]

Will the positive attitude that Americans have toward Sarko end up being inversely proportionate to his standing with the French? His poll numbers have declined. But to your point Gunny, I also like Sarko. If given a chance, he might be able to pull the French out of their obsessive navel inspection. If he can make economic reforms, perhaps the French can reverse their decline.

I like some of the things he's said before, but telling the media to piss off I will applaud from anyone.

 

[Toro]

Good for Sarko for bagging the supermodel.

 

[watermark]

Never thought I'd like a French President again, but this guy impresses me more and more.

Conservatives were absolutely in bed with the French in the 50's.

Here's a 50's definition by a conservative of a liberal:

"Egghead: A person of spurious intellectual pretensions, often a professor or the protégé of a professor. Essentially confused in thought and immersed in mixture of sentimentality and violent evangelism. A doctrinaire supporter of Middle-European socialism as opposed to Greco-French-American ideas of democracy and liberalism. Subject to the old-fashioned philosophical morality of Nietzsche which frequently leads him into jail or disgrace. A self-conscious prig, so given to examining all sides of a question that he becomes thoroughly addled while remaining always in the same spot. An anemic bleeding heart.



I remeber reading that and laughing, because, WTF? French?

 

[Gunny]

Conservatives were absolutely in bed with the French in the 50's.

Here's a 50's definition by a conservative of a liberal:

"Egghead: A person of spurious intellectual pretensions, often a professor or the protégé of a professor. Essentially confused in thought and immersed in mixture of sentimentality and violent evangelism. A doctrinaire supporter of Middle-European socialism as opposed to Greco-French-American ideas of democracy and liberalism. Subject to the old-fashioned philosophical morality of Nietzsche which frequently leads him into jail or disgrace. A self-conscious prig, so given to examining all sides of a question that he becomes thoroughly addled while remaining always in the same spot. An anemic bleeding heart.

I remeber reading that and laughing, because, WTF? French?

One, what do the 50s have to do with this thread?

Two, 30 years ago *I* was labelled a "liberal." Comparing liberals and conservatives then as opposed to now is pointless. You wouldn't recognize what passed for a Democrat in 60s today as anything but a "neocon."

 

[midcan5]

Sarkozy's appeal to the more conservative economic republicans is sort of ironic, did anyone listen to his new year speech? He would be considered far left in this country in spite of some of his more moderate ideas. I tried to find the text of the speech but haven't had any luck.

"...in the 45-minute speech, Sarkozy declared the death of the 35-hour week, suggested that large companies may have to double or triple the part of their profit they are obliged to share with employees and vowed to replace gross domestic product with a more holistic indicator of economic welfare that he has commissioned from two Nobel laureates in economics, Amarthya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. He also said that he would put a state bank in charge of defending French industry against sovereign wealth funds and other financial predators."

Even his economic advisers are hardly conservative.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/08/business/france.php?page=2

 

[Gunny]

Sarkozy's appeal to the more conservative economic republicans is sort of ironic, did anyone listen to his new year speech? He would be considered far left in this country in spite of some of his more moderate ideas. I tried to find the text of the speech but haven't had any luck.

"...in the 45-minute speech, Sarkozy declared the death of the 35-hour week, suggested that large companies may have to double or triple the part of their profit they are obliged to share with employees and vowed to replace gross domestic product with a more holistic indicator of economic welfare that he has commissioned from two Nobel laureates in economics, Amarthya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. He also said that he would put a state bank in charge of defending French industry against sovereign wealth funds and other financial predators."

Even his economic advisers are hardly conservative.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/08/business/france.php?page=2

Specify which more "conservative economic Republicans" to which you refer, since I see no Republicans in this thread at all, and I was considered a liberal until folks like you hijacked the party from under people like me.

Onedomino is pretty centrist. Oh, I forgot ... we're to the right of YOU; therefore ....

Personally, I have the ability to like certain things about a person, dislike other things about that person, and STILL respect that person. Nobody's all good, all bad, nor perfect.

 

[watermark]

One, what do the 50s have to do with this thread?

Two, 30 years ago *I* was labelled a "liberal." Comparing liberals and conservatives then as opposed to now is pointless. You wouldn't recognize what passed for a Democrat in 60s today as anything but a "neocon."

30 years in the future I will still be labeled a liberal. I promise you. The liberalness of some of my positions repels even Midcan. I just try not to cause much of a sensation about it, since I'm opposed to sensationalism.

I just found the turn around ironic. In the 50's, the French were good ole boys. Now, they're liberal pussies. But actually France is one of the more conservative nations in Europe.

 

[Gunny]

30 years in the future I will still be labeled a liberal. I promise you. The liberalness of some of my positions repels even Midcan. I just try not to cause much of a sensation about it, since I'm opposed to sensationalism.

I just found the turn around ironic. In the 50's, the French were good ole boys. Now, they're liberal pussies. But actually France is one of the more conservative nations in Europe.

Sure you will, so sayeth the long-haired, bell-bottom ,dope-smoking anti-establishment, 4 years in liberal journalism hippy from the 70s to YOU.