French Libs Have A Fit Over New Policies

[red states rule]

Can you imagine how "frightenly brutal" it must be in live in France right now?
Pres Sarkozy wants every able bodied citizen to work for a living and be punished for committing a crime

Time to call the UN and report these human rights abuses

Nicolas Sarkozy: He may have won the presidency, but he hasn't won over the many French who consider him—and his free-market reforms and tough line on crime and immigration—frighteningly brutal.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8P07PTG0&show_article=1

 

[Gunny]

Can you imagine how "frightenly brutal" it must be in live in France right now?
Pres Sarkozy wants every able bodied citizen to work for a living and be punished for committing a crime

Time to call the UN and report these human rights abuses

Nicolas Sarkozy: He may have won the presidency, but he hasn't won over the many French who consider him—and his free-market reforms and tough line on crime and immigration—frighteningly brutal.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8P07PTG0&show_article=1

Guess Sarkozy is doomed to find out EXACTLY what it's like to be a Bush.

 

[red states rule]

Guess Sarkozy is doomed to find out EXACTLY what it's like to be a Bush.

It cracks me up when the left lectures us how the US needs to be more like France

If Pres Sarkozy is serious - I might actually agree with the left on this

 

[Annie]

Austin Bay on Sarkozy:

http://austinbay.net/blog/?p=1799

5/19/2007
Hooray for President Sarkozy
Filed under:

* General

— site admin @ 5:15 pm

Nicholas Sarkozy strikes again — and again. Yesterday Saint Nicholas (”it’s Christmas for liberty&#8221 appointed Bernard Kouchner as Foreign Minister. Touche’. Too-effin-che’. Magnifique. Kouchner supported the toppling of Saddam. Like Norm Geras and Christopher Hitchens, Kouchner’s a man of the Left who actually believes in liberty. Grind your teeth in your own buttock, M. Chirac.

The Times-OnLine has the background.

President Sarkozy yesterday appointed as Foreign Minister a socialist rights crusader who backed the US-British invasion of Iraq, causing bemusement and some anger in the French political world.

The appointment of Bernard Kouchner, 67, one of the most popular and outspoken public figures in France, was the most novel in a new “inclusive” government that mixes left-wing and centrist politicians with Mr Sarkozy’s Gaullist lieutenants.​

The Socialist Opposition, in whose governments Dr Kouchner had served as Minister for Health and Humanitarian Action, immediately denounced him as a traitor and expelled him from the party.​

Yup. Expelled. Cela va sans dire. Where the nutroots control, the purge shall follow. That’s because they are Stalinists at heart.

As the article notes, Kouchner supports pressuring China on Darfur by threatening a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That’s the smartest celebrity activist move in recent memory.

This graf is too good:

Dr Kouchner, a 1968 student activist, has dedicated his career to humanitarian relief in war zones since he co-founded the Médecins sans Frontières organisation after working in Bi-afra in 1971. He is best known for developing the theory of “humanitarian intervention” to justify international action against dictators who flout human rights. In 2003 he was the only senior public figure in France to approve the intervention in Iraq. A staunch pro-European, he will implement Mr Sarkozy’s promises to “oppose tyrants and dictators” and inject more morality in France’s dealings with the world.​

Kouchner adds:

Dr Kouchner, who was never fully trusted by his Socialist colleagues, said that Mr Sarkozy had reassured him that he did not expect him to change his political views. “I am not betraying my camp,” Dr Kouchner said. “I intend to stay on the side of the oppressed.”​

Kouchner is no odd choice– he is a brilliant choice.

As I’ve written — repeatedly– Iraq is a war of liberation. The War on Terror (as poorly named as it is) is a war for modernity. If you aren’t on the side of liberty and liberalization, if you aren’t willing to pay the hard price of winning for liberty and liberalization against the latest brand of fascism (Islamo-fascism), then you are part of the problem. No matter how many tattoos, ponytails, attaboys from Nancy Pelosi, and orientations you may wear, have, or profess, you’re at best a medieval frump, at worst objectively pro-terrorist.

What does Kouchner’s appointment mean for Iraq? Don’t dismiss it as too little too late. This is Sarkozy’s subtle comment on Chirac’s cowardice vis a vis Saddam (and possible connivance with Saddam). The time to evalute Kouchner’s role in the Iraq political game is late this fall. Let’s see Sarkozy-Kouchner’s response if General Petraeus provides a positive assessment in September of his Iraqi “surge.”

More from the Washington Post on Sarkozy’s other appointements.

These are also pretty sharp appointments:

Sarkozy named as defense minister Hervé Morin, a centrist who was a key adviser to failed presidential candidate François Bayrou.

Michèle Alliot-Marie, Chirac’s defense minister, was made interior minister in charge of security and counterterrorism. Rachida Dati, 41, whose parents immigrated to France from Morocco and Algeria, will serve as justice minister. Women were also chosen as ministers of education, culture, health and sports, agriculture, and housing.
​

France hasn’t had a leader this bold since…well, it’s never had a democratic leader this bold, savvy, bright, and hope-inspiring.

 

[maineman]

It cracks me up when the left lectures us how the US needs to be more like France
If Pres Sarkozy is serious - I might actually agree with the left on this

please find one quote from any democrat where anyone from my party has ever lectured this country and told America it needs to be more like France.

I'll wait.

 

[NATO AIR]

Sarkozy could be an excellent leader in France and for Europe as a whole. The selection of Kouchner is a masterstroke for bringing France's foreign policy into a more realistic but less cynical light. Remember, his paternal grandparents were slaughtered at Auschwitz, something he never has forgotten and which greatly informs his policies. As Bay notes, action (more of a united pressure campaign now between America and NATO on China) on Dar Fur is now a distinct probability.

If only we could have a presidential campaign like the French just had...

 

[onedomino]

Sarkozy could be an excellent leader in France and for Europe as a whole. The selection of Kouchner is a masterstroke for bringing France's foreign policy into a more realistic but less cynical light. Remember, his paternal grandparents were slaughtered at Auschwitz, something he never has forgotten and which greatly informs his policies. As Bay notes, action (more of a united pressure campaign now between America and NATO on China) on Dar Fur is now a distinct probability.

If only we could have a presidential campaign like the French just had...

France cooperating with pressure on China? That will be a first in the 21st Century. Remember it was Chirac that pressured the EU to drop its ban on trading weapons to China. France has had a purely "mercantile" foreign policy, i.e., if you have a pulse and money, then France will trade with you (actually the pulse was probably not necessary). It will be very interesting to see if Sarkozy drops the French pressure on the EU to sell weapons to China. Also, it will be interesting to see if Sarkozy jettisons the Chirac attitude that it would not pose a big danger if Tehran had one or two nuclear weapons: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/world/europe/01france.html?ei=5088?ner=rssnyt&en=2a79cb363a6d7afd&ex=1327986000&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

 

[red states rule]

please find one quote from any democrat where anyone from my party has ever lectured this country and told America it needs to be more like France.

I'll wait.

Kerry acted like a snotty Frenchmen in 04

and you have your usual Hollywood limo libs saying how France is so much better then the US

need a recent example? I would say it is safe to say this writer is a big liberal democrat


"Hillary equals France"
By Bill Maher
May 4, 2007 | New Rule: Conservatives have to stop rolling their eyes every time they hear the word France. Like just calling something French is the ultimate argument winner. "Aw, you want a healthcare system that covers everybody and costs half as much? You mean like they have in France? What's there to say about a country that was too stupid to get on board with our wonderfully conceived and brilliantly executed war in Iraq?"

Earlier this year, the Boston Globe got hold of an internal campaign document from GOP contender Mitt Romney, and a recurring strategy was to tie Democrats to the hated French. It said, in the Machiavellian code of the election huckster, "Hillary equals France," and it envisioned bumper stickers that read, "First, not France."

Except for one thing: We're not first. America isn't ranked anywhere near first in anything except military might and snotty billionaires. The country that is ranked No. 1 in healthcare, for example, is France. The World Health Organization ranks America at 37 in the world -- not two, or five -- 37, in between Costa Rica and Slovenia, which are both years away from discovering dentistry.

Yet an American politician could not survive if he or she uttered the simple, true statement, "France has a better healthcare system than us, and we should steal it." Because here, simply dismissing an idea as French passes for an argument. John Kerry? Can't vote for him -- he looks French. Yeah, as opposed to the other guy, who just looked stupid.

I know, if God had wanted us to learn from the Enlightenment, he wouldn't have given us Sean Hannity.

And I'm not saying France is better than America. Because I assume you've already figured that out by now. I don't want to be French, I just want to take what's best from the French. Stealing, for your own self-interest -- Republicans should love this idea. Taking what's best from the French: You know who else did that? The Founding Fathers. Hate to sink your toy boat, Fox News, but the Founding Fathers, the ones you say you revere, were children of the French Enlightenment, and fans of it, and they turned it into a musical called the Constitution of the United States. And they did a helluva job, so good it has been said that it was written by geniuses so it could be run by idiots. But the current administration is putting that to the test. The Founding Fathers were erudite, well-read, European-thinking aristocrats -- they would have had nothing in common with, and no use for, an ill-read xenophobic bumpkin like George W. Bush.

The American ideas of individuality, religious tolerance and freedom of speech came directly out of the French Enlightenment -- but, shhh, don't tell Alabama. Voltaire wrote "men are born equal" before Jefferson was wise enough to steal it.

Countries are like people -- they tend to get smarter as they get older. Noted military genius Donald Rumsfeld famously dismissed France as part of Old Europe, but the French are ... what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, "mature." We think they're rude and snobby, but maybe that's because they're talking to us.

For example, France just had an election, and people over there approach an election differently. They vote. Eighty-five percent turned out. The only thing 85 percent of Americans ever voted on was Sanjaya.

Maybe the high turnout has something to do with the fact that the French candidates are never asked where they stand on evolution, prayer in school, abortion, stem cell research or gay marriage. And if the candidate knows about a character in a book other than Jesus, it's not a drawback. There is no Pierre Six-pack who can be fooled by childish wedge issues. And the electorate doesn't vote for the guy they want to have a croissant with. Nor do they care about the candidate's private lives: In the current race, Ségolène Royal has four kids but never bothered to get married. And she's a socialist. In America, if a Democrat even thinks you're calling him a liberal he immediately grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something.

The conservative candidate is married, but he and his wife live apart and lead separate lives. They aren't asked about it in the media, and the people are OK with it, for the same reason the people are OK with nude beaches: because they're not a nation of 6-year-olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts. They have weird ideas about privacy. They think it should be private. In France, everyone has a mistress. Even mistresses have mistresses. To not have a lady on the side says to the voters, "I'm no good at multitasking."

France has its faults -- the country has high unemployment, a nasty immigrant problem and all that ridiculous accordion music. But its healthcare is the best, it's not dependent on Mideast oil, it has the lowest poverty rate and the lowest income-inequality rate among industrialized nations, and it's the greenest, with the lowest carbon dumping and the lowest electricity bill.

France has 20,000 miles of railroads that work. We have the trolley at the mall that takes you from Pottery Barn to the Gap. It has bullet trains. We have bullets. France has public intellectuals. We have Dr. Phil. And France invented sex during the day, the ménage à trois, lingerie and the tongue.

And the French are not fat. Can't we just admit we could learn something from them?

 

[maineman]

please find one quote from any democrat where anyone from my party has ever lectured this country and told America it needs to be more like France.

I'll wait.

as I thought....you got nothing...no lecture.... no telling American we NEEDED to be like France..... nothing

 

[red states rule]

as I thought....you got nothing...no lecture.... no telling American we NEEDED to be like France..... nothing

Those on the left have long held up France as a glowing tribute to liberalism and how they are better then the US

 

[maineman]

that' what you keep saying..... but we all know you don't know shit...you are the same guy that got laughed off the thread about Iran funding AQ in Iraq.

So....provide a link to some quotes when anyone in American politics are lecturing America that we need to be like france.

I'll wait.

 

[red states rule]

that' what you keep saying..... but we all know you don't know shit...you are the same guy that got laughed off the thread about Iran funding AQ in Iraq.

So....provide a link to some quotes when anyone in American politics are lecturing America that we need to be like france.

I'll wait.

The left has always put France ahead of the US

Alos, you have not checked that thread this morning have you?