Posted on 04/22/2007 9:54:11 AM PDT by veronica
How do you say "Rudy Giuliani" in French? The answer is Nicolas Sarkozy, the brash conservative politician expected to lead the field in today's first round of national balloting in France, culminating in a May 6 runoff to decide the presidency.
The top three candidates – Mr. Sarkozy on the right, Segolene Royal on the left and Francois Bayrou in the center – are all baby boomers and represent a generational change of power. All three promise a break from the economic stagnation, cultural malaise and overall decline that has drained France of its vitality.
The French people know they can't carry on like this, but they fear change. Neither Ms. Royal, as seemingly incompetent as she is glamorous, nor the affable nostalgist Mr. Bayrou offers a substantial departure from the status quo. How ironic, then, that the official conservative candidate, Mr. Sarkozy, is the one most likely to shake up the sclerotic system.
He's a scrappy, even arrogant outsider who speaks his mind – and he's given a stiff dose of Thatcherite straight talk about economic reform to the cosseted French. He talks up the U.S. work ethic, and when asked last fall by a French interviewer what it felt like to be called a "friend of the Americans," Mr. Sarkozy said, "That flatters me."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Wee-Wee?
French Giuliani ? They’re doomed.
At the end of the day, he is still a frog.
It begins and ends right there.
Poseur?
Who is France's "oldest ally"? It's not us, is it?
I’ll creadit Sarkozy for actually being an Humgarian-Greek Jew.
‘”How do you say “Rudy Giuliani” in French?”
Poseur?’
Oui!
It could well be us. We were fighting Britain during the War of 1812. The French, under Napoleon, were fighting just about everyone else then. I can't recall a time since then when we've formally been against then even though we've since informally had plenty of differences.
How does the election cycle in France work? Sounds more like a sports playoff then an election.
attach a ten dollar bill to a string and drag it through the gutter and watch the french fight for it.
How about 1942 in Algiers? US shot a few of them IIRC - and they shot a few of US.
Calling Sarkozy a French Giuliani is just plain mean.
We almost went to war over French raids on northeast commerce with England, around the 1812 era.
The northeast libtards did not support the war 1812 btw and continued TRADE with a country that was burning our capital.
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