Posted on 11/07/2007 12:45:21 PM PST by Cincinna
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France was greeted with cheers and standing ovations in the United States Congress today, a sign that France was forgiven for opposing the American-led war in Iraq. In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress — a rare honor for a visiting head of state — Mr. Sarkozy spoke of his love of the American dream and the cultural icons of the 20th century, from Elvis Presley and John Wayne to Ernest Hemingway and Marilyn Monroe.
He expressed admiration for Martin Luther King Jr. He thanked the United States for saving France in two world wars, rebuilding Europe with the Marshall Plan and fighting communism during the Cold War.
When he called France “the friend of the United States of America,” the hall, packed with lawmakers, many of whom only a few years ago held France in disdain, burst into applause. When he said that a nuclear-armed Iran is “unacceptable” for France, they stood and clapped. Mr. Sarkozy managed to meld his words of praise for the United States with firm but gentle assertions of French and European independence, in ways that seemed likely to play well on both sides of the Atlantic.
“I want to be your friend, your ally, your partner,” he said, “but I wish to be a friend who stands on his own two feet.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Finally!
Well, there's something I never expected to hear from France's president.
A true statesman and someone we can work with if his constituents follow him.
Read the whole speech: magnificent!
I believe Sarkozy is a Hungarian immigrant to France. So while this reflects well of France the country, I cannot say that he necessarily reflects the sentiments of the French people. Which, incidentally, does not bother me. But, Sarkozy is a great statesman.
Why not? He's an elected official.
Second that. I guess the Dems would be ashamed to boo him, although their friends in the press have been coming out with some very snarky stuff. They don't like to see him visiting President Bush like this. They liked Chirac better. But at least they have the decency to applaud him.
I think he's the real article, so the two chief questions are whether the French will continue to support him, and whether the treasonous Democrats will try to sabotage this detente.
Sarkozy’s father was an Hungarian nobleman, his mother a Greek Jewess.
BRAVO!!!! What a GUY!!
“America liberated us. This is an eternal debt,” he said, adding: “I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France.
“I think of them, and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one’s family.”
Those words there moved me to tears. God bless him.
Hear Hear!
Visionary, complimentary, and not all fairy cake and gum drops.
Like it or not for some France and the Unis Etas share a very common history.
Sarko the American is that like Pippin the Wise?
Nice words but when I see action, like putting boots on the ground in Iraq, I’ll start liking ‘em.
The Legion
He is the children of parents who immigrated to France to make a better life for their family. He understands America, and he was elected by the French. So he reflects certainly a lot of them!
Nicolas Sarkozy is French. He was born in France. His father comes from the minor Hungarian aristocracy, and was a political refuge who came to France before he married and had children.
His mother is French, born to a French mother, and a father of Sephardic Jewish ancestry, originally from Provence, and later from Spain. His grandfather converted to Roaman Catholicism when he married Sarko’s grandmother.
Mon dieu!
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