Wednesday, April 11, 2007
If you think American politics are petty and trivial...
...be thankful you don't vote in a sophisticated country like France:
Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate for president, suggests that pedophilia is most likely a genetic flaw; Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, does not seem to know that Taliban extremists are no longer running the government of Afghanistan; and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the ultrarightist, recommends masturbation instead of free condoms to meet young people’s sexual needs.
With 12 days to go before the first round of France’s presidential election, the campaign has entered a phase of improvisation and even silliness that reflects the absence of any single defining issue and a frenzied competition to win over the country’s large bloc of undecided voters.
Apparently, you can be nuanced, post-modern, complex, cosmopolitan, and still asinine.
6 Comments:
By 
Country Squire, at
Wed Apr 11, 09:48:00 PM:
TH,
I thought “asinine” was defined as “nuanced, post-modern, complex, cosmopolitan”. Or was that “pathetic”?
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Apr 11, 09:58:00 PM:
Well, CS, it is very hard to conclude that French politics is sillier than American. Notwithstanding the direction of the post, I am not actually meaning to dump on the French -- I am something of a Francophile, actually, and have read a good part of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign book. My targets are actually Europhilic Americans who sort of reflexively think that Continental Europeans are so much more sophisticated and together than Americans. I hear a lot of that in my social circles, and I really think it is silly.
By Country Squire, at
Wed Apr 11, 10:20:00 PM:
I would never go so far as to accuse any nation of having sillier politics than we do. And I could not agree with you more about Europhilic Americans. While I believe that Continental Europeans have a great deal to “teach” us Americans – it falls mostly under the title heading of what to avoid as opposed to emulate. It’s better simply because Europeans say it, believe it or do it? I think that takes us full circle – we’re back to asinine/pathetic.
By 
, at
Thu Apr 12, 12:35:00 AM:
France needs a bteer leader then the wussietard CHIRAQ
By Purple Avenger, at
Thu Apr 12, 06:42:00 AM:
Q: What's the common thread here?
A: They're all French.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu Apr 12, 08:52:00 PM:
