Is France About To Dump Socialism On The Trash Heap Of History

[red states rule]

Those who work there - from socialist porters to Right-wing suppliers of Paris's top kitchens - agree on one thing: France, for so long hampered by stifling employment laws and a groaning welfare system, needs to get back to work.

"Socialism, well we've done that. We don't need more of the Left, we have all the social protection we need. If they win, it's the end of the road," said Thierry Dumesnil, 40, shifting huge wedges of brie and other cheeses for his wholesale employer. He intends to vote "without passion" for Nicolas Sarkozy, the Right-wing front runner.

IF THEY WERE SMART, THEY WOULD.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/17/wfra17.xml

 

[actsnoblemartin]

I agree 100%

 

[Diuretic]

Dump socialism? Only the bloody Telegraph would dream up shit like that. They've had a bloody conservative government for years and they're in the economic shit because of the dumbarse conservative regimes they've had.

Up to them of course but if Sarkozy is president and there's another conservative government elected then you'll hear screams that even drown out the poor bloody geese that they stuff full of food for foie gras, the cruel bastards. Hang on.......

 

[UnAmericanYOU]

LOL, somebody actually thinks Mitterand and Chirac were 'bloody conservatives'? Maybe if "conservative" means Islamic rule...

Sarkozy's favoured and even Royal knows this:

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian

Ségolène Royal, the first woman with a chance of leading France, began re-shaping her campaign yesterday as she faced a runoff with the clear favourite in the presidential election, the rightwing former interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ms Royal began the difficult task of convincing France that she was not merely an off-the-shelf traditional Socialist in designer clothing and could break away from her party roots to capture the centre ground.

From yet another "bloody conservative" site:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2064102,00.html

Hmm, that's the way the democrat party does it here...left for the primary, right for the general election/runoff, Sarkozy has an eight-point lead for that right now, her time to close the gap is very short:

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15509

There's one debate, it ought to be a riot:

Koné Jaoussou stood in a doorway on the infamous Grande Borne council estate, shaking his head at the prospect of a victory for Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election.

“If Sarkozy wins this place is going to explode again,” said the 28-year-old immigrant from Mali as he recalled the violence that rocked La Grande Borne in 2005 and again last year. “There’ll be riots here and in the suburbs all over France.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1695446.ece

It's just so hard NOT to draw parallels between, say, France, and a "blue" American state. The French left sounds just like Al Gore did back in the day:

French parties call voting machines a 'catastrophe'
Several French political parties demanded the withdrawal of electronic voting machines for the second round of the presidential election after widespread problems during Sunday's ballot.


The Socialists, the Communist Party and the Greens put on a rare show of unity to call the machines, used for around 1.5 million of France's 44.5 voters, a "catastrophe."

It is the first time the machines have been used for a presidential election in France. Amid big queues in general to vote, people using the electronic machines were forced to wait up to two hours to cast ballots.

http://www.physorg.com/news96567089.html

They're not Diebold machines AFAIK, but even in France they CHEAT!!!

France does seem to be turning rightward, it may be too late. Back in Maine:

'Hate incident' in city

By Bonnie Washuk , Staff Writer
Thursday, April 19, 2007

LEWISTON - One student has been suspended and more disciplinary action could follow a possible hate crime at Lewiston Middle School, Superintendent Leon Levesque said Wednesday.

On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating. Muslims consider pork unclean and offensive.

The act reminded students of a man who threw a pig's head into a Lewiston mosque last summer.

The school incident is being treated seriously as "a hate incident," Levesque said. Lewiston police are investigating, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to create a response plan.

"We've got some work to do to turn this around and bring the school community back together again," Levesque said.

Placing ham where Muslim students were eating was "an awful thing," said Stephen Wessler, executive director of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence. "It's extraordinarily hurtful and degrading" to Muslims, whose religion prohibits them from being around ham. It's important to respond swiftly, Wessler said.

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/208385-3/LewistonAuburn/Hate_incident_in_city/

And that sounds just like something you'd expect from a French middle school. Not too late here.

 

[red states rule]

What did France used to be called?

Germany, and then we saved them.

 

[Diuretic]

What did France used to be called?

Germany, and then we saved them.

Well you fucked around at school didn't you. Nonsense of course.

 

[red states rule]

Well you fucked around at school didn't you. Nonsense of course.

France is going in the toilet and they deserve what they have today

France has forgotten how the US saved their sorry asses in WWII - I have not

 

[Diuretic]

LOL, somebody actually thinks Mitterand and Chirac were 'bloody conservatives'? Maybe if "conservative" means Islamic rule...

No, that would be Islamic rule. Here's someone that knows the difference between Mitterand and Chirac. Mitterand - socialist. Chirac - Gaullist (conservative). Both corrupt.

Sarkozy's favoured and even Royal knows this:

No kidding! Did you just catch up with round one of the election?

From yet another "bloody conservative" site:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2064102,00.html

You do know the Guardian leans Left don't you?

Hmm, that's the way the democrat party does it here...left for the primary, right for the general election/runoff, Sarkozy has an eight-point lead for that right now, her time to close the gap is very short:

You do know that Sarkozy is in a different political party from Royal don't you?

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15509

There's one debate, it ought to be a riot:



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1695446.ece

It's just so hard NOT to draw parallels between, say, France, and a "blue" American state. The French left sounds just like Al Gore did back in the day:

It's not hard to do so if you don't know what's happening in French politics. If you try to squeeze French politics - or the politics of any other country - into the familiar template of two-party US politics then of course you'll get confused.

http://www.physorg.com/news96567089.html

They're not Diebold machines AFAIK, but even in France they CHEAT!!!

France does seem to be turning rightward, it may be too late. Back in Maine:


http://www.sunjournal.com/story/208385-3/LewistonAuburn/Hate_incident_in_city/

And that sounds just like something you'd expect from a French middle school. Not too late here.

France has been on the right for a number of years.

 

[red states rule]

Even when the government wanted people to work 40 hours per week and the "workers" rioted?

It took only a week for the government to surrender to the rioters

 

[Diuretic]

Even when the government wanted people to work 40 hours per week and the "workers" rioted?

It took only a week for the government to surrender to the rioters

Yes, after all it was the current government (Villepin - UMP - conservative party) that tried to bring it in.

 

[red states rule]

Yes, after all it was the current government (Villepin - UMP - conservative party) that tried to bring it in.

Oh the outrage

People having to get a job instead of the government taking care of them?

The inhumanity!!!

 

[UnAmericanYOU]

Ooooooh, an Australian on an board title "US Message Board" is trying to tell an American all about French politics!

rsr: it wasn't even a 40-hour week, and all this matters because France is coming due for yet another bailout by guess-who.

No, that would be Islamic rule. Here's someone that knows the difference between Mitterand and Chirac. Mitterand - socialist. Chirac - Gaullist (conservative). Both corrupt.

There's more differences between Mitterand and Chirac than that, Aussie. For example, the former's dead.

They were both corrupt anti-American failed leaders, I'll give you that. But I AM a Pierre Howard fan.

No kidding! Did you just catch up with round one of the election?

I suppose so, since it round one just ended two days ago.

You do know the Guardian leans Left don't you?

But did you? Got you to admit it.

You do know that Sarkozy is in a different political party from Royal don't you?

He is??????????????????????????????????????????????????

Well, that certainly explains all those little letters by the names! Now, it's possible to analyize an exit poll du France:

FRENCH VOTE: MUSLIMS SHUN SARKOZY AS PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL


Paris, 24 April (AKI) - Muslims electors in France shunned rightwing presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy and opted in droves for Socialist candidate Segolene Royal in the first round of voting on Sunday, according to a newly published CSA-CISCO poll commissioned by Catholic daily La Croix. Just one percent of Muslims cast their ballot for crime busting free marketeer Sarkozy, compared with a massive 64 percent for Royal and 19 percent for centrist candidate Francois Bayrou.

Catholic electors, on the other hand, favoured Sarkozy over Royal. Overall, 37 percent voted for Sarkozy, compared with 20 percent for Royal - the same proportion as for Bayrou, who is a practising Catholic, according to the poll, which was carried out on a sample of 5,000 voters.

While Muslim voting patterns did not depend on whether the elector surveyed was a practising or non-practising Muslim, the poll found a higher percentage of practising than non-practising Catholics voted for Sarkozy: 45 percent of those going to mass at least once a month compared with 11 percent who voted for Royal.

According to final interior ministry results, Sarkozy took 31.1 percent of Sunday's vote against Royal's 25.8, Bayrou's 18.6 and far-right anti-immigrant candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen's 10.5. Sarkozy and Royal will face each other in the 6 May run-off.

An IPSOS poll conducted after Sunday's first round predicted Sarkozy would beat Royal by 54 percent to 46 percent in the run-off - in which observers say the middle ground will tip the scales.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.408044558&par=0

Well, day-um. Might as well call it for Sarkozy.

It's not hard to do so if you don't know what's happening in French politics. If you try to squeeze French politics - or the politics of any other country - into the familiar template of two-party US politics then of course you'll get confused.

That's an over-simplistic, generalized view of American politics you've got there, it's far far more involved than that.

Here, round twos are called "run-offs" and are never in national elections - they're considered "racist" because they consolidate voters by design.

France has been on the right for a number of years.

Only to Australian socialist. Nonsense, of course.

 

[Diuretic]

Oh the outrage

People having to get a job instead of the government taking care of them?

The inhumanity!!!

That wasn't the issue.

 

[Diuretic]

Hey You - yes you, the cherrypicker.

1. Yes this Australian is trying to tell you about French politics. I'm in a helpful mood right now.

2. Mitterand's dead - that's the difference between him and Chirac - fucking excellent point!

3. You did know about the first round. Good! You're very well read then. This should be good, discussing it with you. So you reckon Sarkozy has it in the bag? How about Beyrou's vote? How will it split between Sarkozy and Royal?

4. The Guardian - hell yes, I knew it leaned Left. Here's your very own primer on British newspapers courtesy of British TV.

* In Episode 4 of the second series of Yes, Prime Minister, Jim Hacker says:

"I know exactly who reads the papers: The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by people who actually do run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; and The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is."
Sir Humphrey: "Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?"
Bernard Woolley: "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits."

5. France has been to the right for a number of years. It doesn't matter how you try to spin it, ad hom and all, the fact is that France has had a conservative government for a number of years. Not opinion - fact. You do remember facts don't you? I mean facts have largely gone missing from US politics so their memory may be fading.

Pars numbered for easier cherry-picking.

 

[UnAmericanYOU]

Hey You - yes you, the cherrypicker.

How is answering every point in a post being a "cherrypicker"?

1. Yes this Australian is trying to tell you about French politics. I'm in a helpful mood right now.

1. Then tell me something. Is this anti-Sarkozy ad still being played in Gay
Paree? If not, does Soros have a new one?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXARJNvvZSY[/ame]

Godwin.

2. Mitterand's dead - that's the difference between him and Chirac - fucking excellent point!

2. "For example" doesn't translate to "the (only) difference". Tring to pretend so is dangerously close to "cherry-picking".

Clarity time, mate? I want Chirac to face those corruption charges that he's managed to avoid by hiding behind his office for over a dozen years.

3. You did know about the first round. Good! You're very well read then. This should be good, discussing it with you. So you reckon Sarkozy has it in the bag? How about Beyrou's vote? How will it split between Sarkozy and Royal?

3. Yes, it would take something extroidinairy to stop him now. Bayrou's vote will be split almost exacly as the margin of victory. In other words, it's probably Sarkozy by nine, former Bayrou voter's will favor him by nine as well.

LePen's old voters are much less reliable, if he had made it to round two somehow, he would have done not much better than before. Many of his will stay home or vote Sarkozy.

Where am I getting all this from? Cherry-picking polls again, of course. But look:

In surveys by Ifop, Ipsos and LH2, Sarkozy is ahead with 54 per cent, and Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal trails with 46 per cent. In addition, Sarkozy holds a seven-point edge over Royal in a study by CSA, and a four-point edge in a poll by BVA

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15509

That margin's stabilized, there's one debate that ought be a free-for-all, Royal did poorly despite a high turnout last weekend.

4. The Guardian - hell yes, I knew it leaned Left. Here's your very own primer on British newspapers courtesy of British TV.

4. Somebody here show twist that quote for the American media. Still confused on those who read The Sun, since I'm not sure who has the biggest tits in this instance. Probably Sarkozy again.

5. France has been to the right for a number of years. It doesn't matter how you try to spin it, ad hom and all, the fact is that France has had a conservative government for a number of years. Not opinion - fact. You do remember facts don't you? I mean facts have largely gone missing from US politics so their memory may be fading.

Mon Dieu, a man of the world such as yourself knows darn tootin' well that the French Left is not the American Left is not the Australian Left...they're ALL socialists to the American Right, just different shades of red.

Now, to your point...yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm aware that Mitterand and Chirac were of two different French political parties and that Chirac and Sarkozy are of the same party in name.

But, French political parties don't evolve as they do here, they metamorphasize like snakes shedding skin. Chirac governed far to the left of what that party had previously stood for, Sarkozy's trying to yank it back.

Pars numbered for easier cherry-picking.

Pars are paragraphs? Well, I don't know about all that, but your PM really reminds me of Rudy Giuliani.

 

[red states rule]

That wasn't the issue.

So what was the reason to riot, burn buildings, trash cars, and smash store windows?

Not getting one hour for lunch?

 

[red states rule]

How do you say "Give me liberty or give me death!" in French?

I give up.


How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?

Nobody knows. It's never been tried.

 

[onedomino]

But, French political parties don't evolve as they do here, they metamorphasize like snakes shedding skin. Chirac governed far to the left of what that party had previously stood for, Sarkozy's trying to yank it back.

Amusing, and accurate. From an American perspective, the behavior of what is called the "right" in France, e.g., the UMP, would be closer to the "left" in the US. Good luck to Sarkozy if he is really trying to "yank (no pun intended) it back."

 

[Diuretic]

How is answering every point in a post being a "cherrypicker"?

Parsing, cherrypicking - it ends up where a single post can contain multiple paragraphs and there's a real eye-glazing effect.

1. Then tell me something. Is this anti-Sarkozy ad still being played in Gay
Paree? If not, does Soros have a new one?

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

Godwin.

Soros - he scares the right something terrible. I have no idea why.

2. "For example" doesn't translate to "the (only) difference". Tring to pretend so is dangerously close to "cherry-picking".

Clarity time, mate? I want Chirac to face those corruption charges that he's managed to avoid by hiding behind his office for over a dozen years.

You know Chirac won't face the charges he should face. The French don't have that Anglo-Saxon attitude towards these things, they'll say (as I heard a French woman on radio describe it - paraphrased) oh, he's like your grandfather, he says these things, does these things, but you forgive him.

3. Yes, it would take something extroidinairy to stop him now. Bayrou's vote will be split almost exacly as the margin of victory. In other words, it's probably Sarkozy by nine, former Bayrou voter's will favor him by nine as well.

LePen's old voters are much less reliable, if he had made it to round two somehow, he would have done not much better than before. Many of his will stay home or vote Sarkozy.

Where am I getting all this from? Cherry-picking polls again, of course. But look:



http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15509

That margin's stabilized, there's one debate that ought be a free-for-all, Royal did poorly despite a high turnout last weekend.

For what it's worth, I agree, Sarkozy will garner most, if not all of the Beyrou vote, Royal won't get near him.

4. Somebody here show twist that quote for the American media. Still confused on those who read The Sun, since I'm not sure who has the biggest tits in this instance. Probably Sarkozy again.

Fat bastard should get out and exercise in that case

I don't think you have a paper like The Sun, the closest I can think of is the NY Post, you know, "Headless Body Found in Topless Bar!" One of the great headlines of the world.

Mon Dieu, a man of the world such as yourself knows darn tootin' well that the French Left is not the American Left is not the Australian Left...they're ALL socialists to the American Right, just different shades of red.

Now, to your point...yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm aware that Mitterand and Chirac were of two different French political parties and that Chirac and Sarkozy are of the same party in name.

But, French political parties don't evolve as they do here, they metamorphasize like snakes shedding skin. Chirac governed far to the left of what that party had previously stood for, Sarkozy's trying to yank it back.

Clever reptilian simile - when I look at Chirac I think...basilisk. sarkozy won't allow himself to be held hostage by the Le Pen impulse in France. He'll talk big to garner the prejudice vote but when it comes to it he'll eschew the rhetoric for moderate action. He knows he has no choice. Unlike their cousins across the Channel the French have a heart for revolution.

Pars are paragraphs? Well, I don't know about all that, but your PM really reminds me of Rudy Giuliani.

Pars - I used to do editing work, old habit.

Even I wouldn't trash Giuliani like that.

 

[red states rule]

France has given the world two great Frenchmen

Pepe La Pew

Inspector Clouseau

other then that..............