The France-America honeymoon

   

Talk about a honeymoon. Not only is Nicolas Sarkozy basking in the glow of implausible approval ratings at home, but the charm of France's new president has crossed the Atlantic to dazzle the American chattering classes.

It all sounds too good to be true ahead of this week's G8 summit in Germany and the first encounter between George W. Bush and the man who has earned the nicknames of l'hyper-président and the French Energizer Bunny. 

You might expect a rush of Francophilia from the anti-Bush New York Times, which ran an admiring piece this week on the "bold new style" of France's jogging, I-pod wearing new head of state.

But look at this from yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the most consistently anti-French of serious US media since Jacques Chirac picked a fight with Bush before the Iraq invasion.  At long last the United States has a friend in the Elysée Palace, said the Journal. Mr Sarkozy's arrival is an opportunity not to be squandered or trivialized. It could herald a major shift in U.S.-French relations and reinvigorate the broader trans-Atlantic alliance.   

Even those who made French-bashing an industry have called off hostilities against the cheese-eating surrender monkies.

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, one of the biggest French-bashers, said the day after Sarko's election that it was time to give the French a chance. Americans never like doing things in half-measure. Listen to Bill Maher in the last week's Newsweek albeit a little tongue in cheek. France should be the new model for US Republicans, he argued.

Its health care 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.

Americans should also remember that their founding fathers were honorary Frenchmen, Maher went on. "They were children of the French Enlightenment, and fans of it, and they turned it into a musical called the Constitution of the United States...Voltaire wrote 'men are born equal' before Jefferson was wise enough to steal it.

News of the French renaissance has not reached everyone. In a speech on Thursday, Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential contender, was still drawing from a notorious campaign plan which aims to blacken Hillary Rodham Clinton by tarring her as French.

She gave a speech a couple of days ago and laid out her vision for America. And as I listened to her I figured her platform wouldn't even get her elected in France, said Romney, who knows a little about France having worked as a Mormon missionary here. 

But Romney apart, it seems a long time since Americans were flaunting bumper sticker such as "First Iraq, then France." The thaw on the American side of the Franco-US cold war has been welcomed in France. Le Point magazine reported this week: "After the hatred, it's passionate love -- especially for Sarkozy l'Américain who they see as the new Ronald Reagan."

The French-American Foundation has confirmed the revival with an opinion poll commissioned from the CSA agency. Forty-one percent of Americans now have a positive view of France compared with 35 percent in 2005, the highest level since 2000, CSA found. Only nine percent of Americans disliked France with 40 percent expressing neutrality. I suspect the nine percent reflects American politeness more than reality.

The love affair is not being reciprocated so far. Fifteen percent of the French remain hostile to the USA, 54 percent neutral and 30 percent hold a positive view. The figures were about the same in 2005. There is no doubt that this reflects not dislike of Americans but the strong antipathy to the Bush administration that prevails in Europe, including Britain. French views may change if Sarkozy remains popular. Some of his American style -- his love of Ralph Lauren and Raybans for example -- will undoubtedly rub off. A few eye-brows are being raised, however. Some wonder why the President of France needs to jog, as he did on the Mediterranean last week, while clad in a New York Police Department shirt. His body-guards were wearing t-shirts with "US Special Agent" emblazoned on the back.

Inevitably, few in France believe that the US bedazzlement with Sarko will endure once the extremely pushy new man in the Elysée starts asserting interests which have not changed with the French regime. The pair are heading for trouble over trade, farm subsidies and the environment. The strains may already appear in Germany this week. But at least the mood has swung.

Comments

[Becca]

Maybe it's just in the US, but that link takes you to the front page of the American edition of Newsweek. After much searching I found the article here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18882855/site/newsweek/

Fascinating article, though, thanks for the link (and your always interesting writing as well).
[From CB: Thanks Becca. I have corrected the link]

[jorgandersen]

The Americans always go too far one way or another, a little like children. Expectations for Sarko are too high. He is still a Gaullist, after all.

[Susannah]

American weighing in here to point out that it's Bill O'Reilly, not Bill Reilly.

[Jay Bhattacharjee]

Americans, good heavens ! Will they ever become mature ? Old Bernard Shaw was spot on (along with numerous other commentators, I am sure) when he commented on the American march from adolescence to senility, without going through a phase of maturity. Or, should we call on Chesterton's sagesse when he said that the real American is all right, whereas the ideal American is the one who is all wrong. Maybe, the final word should be left to the good Brit. Francis Bacon who concluded that the French are wiser than they seem.

The founding fathers of the Indian Republic relied heavily on both the French and the American constitutions and ideals when framing our constitution in the late 1940s. They were right - they could not have factored in the lunatic Bush lot and the neo-conservative buffoons who surfaced in the 1950s and thereafter. Why does a large part of the American establishment forget that they would still be an underdeveloped British colony had it not been for the French ?

Incidentally, Bill Maher is echoing the observations of the MIT guru Paul Krugman who wrote perceptively on the superiority of the French socio-economic model over the American one in a very perceptive article in 2005.

[Maggie]

Let's just hope it becomes a two way love affair & the French adopt the American work ethic too. Cough !!! yep, I can see a pig flying past my window right now.

[Edward Johns]

The relationship between France and the USA reminds me of the pre-nuptial 'pep' talk that the vicar who officiated at my wedding 35 years ago. He said that people very often only criticise people they are close to because they care for them. I suspect that France and the USA are probably in that position, squabbling as they do like a long-married couple.

[Monika]

@Maggie:
I don't want to offend you but why do you wish the French to work the same way as the Americans? If the French are happy that way why should they change it?
The question when 'will America adopt French work?' ethic is actually as much valid as yours ... ;)

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

The French adopted the American work ethic in 1955 when Mendes France told them to get to work and buy fridges and tellys. On the Bou Mich if I ordered a glass of milk the garcon yelled: "Un Mendes France!" Before that the night life in Paris was great, and elsewhere a bar owner had to stay open until the last client left. The customer came first and the sleepy commercant would lift his head off his bar and say "Oui, Monsieur?" No musak, no pinball machines, no blaring TVs, just conversation and good service for the clientele. After 1955 it was all downhill.

[Monika]

@Maggie:
I don't want to offend you but why do you wish the French to work the same way as the Americans? If the French are happy that way why should they change it?
The question when 'will America adopt French work?' ethic is actually as much valid as yours ... ;)

[christopher muir]

Yo Sarkozy!

Let's see what happens - nothing will surprise me.

[Daniel Strohl]

MAGGIE,

You should close your window ...

[Monika]

Just because it's hilarious a German point of view on Bush:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhqKoqqS0XI

[stuart turner]

I just hope and pray that Sarkozy continues the much needed role of France as a counterbalance to the ludicrous strategies of the U.S and the U.K. as they continue to screw up the world.

[Groucheaux]

God help us! With friends like those you quote, who needs enemies? Just had some Americans staying, and like all 'gentils americains' who end up in this bit of la France profonde, they felt the need to apologise on arrival for being from the USA - like many, sick of the Bush regime, sick of Big Oil imperialism, sick of Fox News, sick of the dire state their country is in. However, as you suggest, once Sarko reveals he's actually a Frenchman beneath the neocon robes, we'll very quickly see our new friends turn out to be very much fair-weather friends.

[terry]

I believe that the animosity felt towards France was embodied quite a bit in Chirac and the rather distasteful way he opposed the U.S. in the Gulf War. With Chirac gone, that animosity has now lessened.

It is certainly true that Rousseau, Voltaire but also John Locke laid the philosophical grounds for our constitution. It really cannot be questioned that France's entry into the revolutionary war was decisive. But many Americans believe that debt was paid, and paid with interest, in WWI and WWII. In fact, I believe that most Americans believe that France still owes us some gratitude for liberating them. But, French honneur suffered a severe blow by the shame of having to be liberated by a "lesser" culture. What better way to lessen that shame by denigrating the liberators. No matter who is the U.S. president, I do not think French attitudes will change.

Lastly, there is more at play in US-France relations than meets the eye. There is an ideological difference. France is seen in the U.S. as a socialist country. Francophiles, such as Maher and Krugman, are socialists and hate the capitalist system in the U.S. They want to bring France's high taxes, government health care and big bureaucracy to the U.S. So, the Francophiles trump up French successes and ignore its failures (high unemployment, high taxes, ridiculous bureaucracy). In contrast, those on the right believe in the supremacy of the individual and small government. They (and me) believe that the French model would be a disaster in the U.S. The U.S. system was built on the economic and political freedom of the individual, not "society". This was the first time this happened in all of history. The French system favors "society" over the individual. Right now, the U.S. seems to be on the verge of flirting with the more socialist system of France. As leftees point to the French model, those on the right raise the inherent flaws in the French model because we do not want to have that type of system here. The Democratic party platform is not much different than what goes on in France. Romney cleverly used that tactic against Hillary trying to paint her as French, meaning Socialist. But her policies are no different. Hillary snubbed Sego on her last visit. Hillary's advisor said that they had nothing in common other than that they were both women. Ideologically, however, there really is no difference between Hillary and Sego.

In effect, France has become the new U.S.S.R. Socialists/Communists used to point to the Soviet Union as the ideal model. Now that the Soviet Union has gone the way of the Dodo, socialists point to France as the new model. I think this leads to the overfondness of France by U.S. leftists and the contempt of France by those on the right.

[Mark]

It is the French who look to Mommy-n-Daddy government for handouts from cradle to grave.

Maybe Shaw was the child.

I would not have a work ethic either if 80% of my earnings was stolen from me by the cafe-dweller's government.

[Monika]

Mark,

where did you ever found that 80% of wages are taken away in France?
Actually Swedes pay much more to the state than a Frenchman ...

Why make an ideology out of so-called work ethic? Some people like to live for work, others work to live. It is a matter of personal preferences. Up to everyone to choose. It is not up to us to tell others how they should lead their life.

If French want a different system they will vote for it. The fact that they don't seems just to indicate that they're happy that way.

Btw since I've worked in France for several years I can tell you that as all my collegues without exception I worked much more than those 35 hours a week without additional pay. Actually these 35 hrs are just paper. Now if that's not work ethic (to work more than one is legally obliged to without getting paid for it) I don't know ...

Please inform yourself profoundly before you issue such statements ;)

[terry]

BTW: Sarkozy got good form. Serious joggers don't clench their fists when they run.

[Thomas]

And the USA bashing continues: Uncultured, immature American buffoons bumbling their way through history without a clue. What savages. It's annoying enough to listen to high-browed Brits crow on about cultural superiority or condescending French-persons blabber on about etiquette but an Indian lecturing us on culture and maturity? Now I've seen everything.

"... America would still be an underdevelop British colony had it not been for the French"? I am still coming to terms with that one. Wow! And they say that we Americans have no sense of history.

[richard jones]

M. Turner hopes might just be fulfilled The problem whilst Chiraq reigned was it was all counter. There was no balance. Perhaps with Sarko there will be a little more listening and a little more compromise, especially as the 'joint enemies' now show themselves as Iran and Russia.

[christopher muir]

Terry - I don't follow you. Chirac was "distasteful" in the way he opposed the Iraq invasion? Frankly, his statesmanship was a lot less offensive than ordering the uprooting of a distant culture on the basis of false information. Four million Iraqis have since been displaced, while Baghdad shakes and burns every day causing the lives of scores of its terrified inhabitants ti be wiped out. Are you hoping that Sarkozy will somehow shift French policy on this matter? Bush would like that - the top job rating he seems to be getting in the USA is within the 30%-41% range. Non-Americans who oppose Bush's decision to invade Iraq are therefore reflecting a majority of present day American opinion. I dare say that a lot of Americans would be disappointed if Sarko became, like Blair, too flexible in his relations with the Bush administration.

[Archie]

Terry: Very true! All Europeans were mightily ticked at being liberated by/allied with Americans, and not once mind you, but twice in a century; as much as Americans - probably with some justification - feel a sense of ingratitude from the Europeans they liberated. Such is the common currency of most trans-Altantic cultures, from stand- up comedians to pub/bar culture to cafe society and I suggest such attitudes will be entrenched for a VERY long time.

[VDOXON]

Dear Sir,
I have enjoyed reading your article. I would like to make a comment: Voltaire was not the one who wrote all men are born equal, but Rousseau, among others in "On the Origins of Inequality". Maher just made a confusion between the two.

[Robert Marchenoir]

"Some people like to live for work, others work to live. It is a matter of personal preferences." (Monika)

Provided you do not ask the state to support you when you choose to work less. In that case, you actually steal from those who choose to work more.

"If French want a different system they will vote for it."

That is precisely what they have just done.

"Please inform yourself profoundly before you issue such statements."

Good point.

[Dimitri]

I officially hate Sarkozy! how can he job on the beach with displaying teeshirts like that? does he mock the french people? this calls for a revolution! The United States influence must not damage the french democracy!

[William Griswold]

"... America would still be an underdevelop British colony had it not been for the French"

Canada and Australia seemed to have done alright as an "underdeveloped" British colony.

[Robert Marchenoir]

Responding to Dimitri's comment.

When Sarkozy has a holiday on a yacht, some people complain because a very large number of Frenchmen do not do likewise.

When Sarkozy speaks of "racailles" and wears NYPD T-shirts, the same people complain, in spite of the fact that a very large number of Frenchmen speak of "racailles" and wear NYPD T-shirts.

Some people will never be satisfied.

Some people would like to have a president half Mother Teresa half King of France.

This is not possible.

[Sarah Hague]

Do the Paris gendarmes have a nice smart tee-shirt like the NYPD? Maybe they could offer some to our illustrious leader and he and his bodyguards could wear them with pride.

One thing really stands out about people: they love complaining and criticising. You need to have a tough skin to be president! Personally I think a little controversy such as wearing NYPD tee-shirts and holidaying on a beautiful yacht after an exhausting presidental campaign keeps everyone happy because they have something frivolous to talk about and they do so enjoy a good moan where they can take the moral high ground.

[PeterD]

Maggie and Monica,
The issue is not whether one country adopts the others work ethic, it's what one gets back from the value of one's labor. Supposedly the French have the highest productivity index of industrialized countries, yet Americans work longer hours. The French pay higher taxes yet get more back in social services. America has been infected by this 'trickle down' theory of reward vs taxation since Regan {which Bush 1 famously described as 'voodoo economics' in the Republican presidential debates) - that the most affluent will somehow altruisticly benefit the working classes by the generousity of their luxury spending. What crap! Whatever happened to the 'percolate up' theory of earning and taxation.

As to Terry's comments about the individual vs the society models in France and the US: get a grip on the news, sir. There has not be a greater erosion of individual liberties in our history since the rise of Bush and the Neo-Cons. The wingnuts wants their 2nd ammendment rights to bear arms protected but not the privacy of our email, phone calls or bodies protected. Equality of pay for women has just been shot down by the Supreme Court - unless they can prove discrimination within 180 days or forget it. Alberto Gonzales sanctions torture and extraordinary rendition to secret prisions and 'water boarding ' in Guantanamo and the suspension of habeus corpus and we still claim to be the beacon of Liberty. What happy horse manure that is.

I can only hope that the next president will live up to John Edwards' pledge last night in the Democratic presidential debate that the first thing on his agenda should he win is to restore our civil liberties.
Peter D

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." Sam Adams

[Terry]

Chris:

In previous posts, I've already described how Chirac's method was distasteful. Some would say ad nauseum. What you call Chirac' statemanship, I call coddling a brutal dictactor who killed millions. That's what Chirac's "statemanship" was all about, wasn't it? To protect French business interests. And that statemanship included sending De Villepin around the world to campaign against the coalition to protect French business interests. Chirac, as you may recall, tried to build a reactor for his buddy Saddam. So let's stop pretending that Chirac's opposition was based on altruism. The other distasteful method Chirac used was to the eastern European countries who voiced support for the war. He told them they should shut up if they want to get into the E.U. How nice. Is that the subtle diplomacy the French were reknown for?

As for false information, I believe that French intelligence also believed that Saddam had chemical weapons. And he probably did. Don't forget, Saddam used them in Iraq against the Kurds. Does anyone really believe that Saddam destroyed them? Chances are he moved them out of the country like he sent his airplanes to Iran in the 1st war.

As to your question as to whether I want Sarkozy to change his opinion on Iraq, my answer is that I dont care whether he does. We do not need more troops. What we wanted before the war was the world to speak with one voice to compel Saddam to back down without war. Chirac took care of that. But all this, Chris, we have discussed in previous posts.

I agree with Charles. I do not think that the honeymoon will last long. Especially, if the global warming hoax is first on Sarkozy's agenda with the U.S. Another point is that coverage of the French election was non-existent. The best coverage for an anglo-saxon like me was right here at this blob. So, Americans were told that Sarkozy is pro-American. But they don't really know what he stands for.

BTW: "while Baghdad shakes and burns". You wax dramatically. I correspond with troops from the town that I work in stationed in Baghdad. They inform me the trouble is one small area. The rest of Iraq, Basra for example, is quite peaceful.

[Jack]

The United States is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democrazy. This means that 50% +1 have no right to enslave/own the 50% -1 as is what occurs in a Democrazy. Where the Constitution failed was it did not limit how much property the government could take from us.

As was stated above, the individual is supreme and society is an illusion. This runs counter to socialism/democrazy.

[Terry]

Ros:

If you are out there, you asked me to give you my impressions of my first trip to Paris, which was May 27-30, 2007. I actually took brief notes with you in mind while there. I am giving them to you in Jack Kerouac fashion so as that to take up too much space. They are my impressions from walking around and seeing Paris. If you, or anyone else interested, wants me to explain something, lemme know.

Le Premier Jour.

Air France food awful. No one talks on plane. CDG airport very quiet. No one talks at baggage carousel. Free cart. Taxi playing Maroon 5. 58 euros to Paris! Rainy and cold. Montparnasse looks like London w/Mansart roofs. 3 homeless under 25 years old. $7.00 for a coke! 3 soldiers w/machine guns on Gaite street. (@#^#%#^). Spiderman. “Excuse, Monsieur, do you have any change?” Non. Je n’ai pas euros. And how do you know I’m American? $100 chicken at La Cotiserie de Lilas. Cheese platter. “Excuse, Monsieur, do you have any change?” Every French woman attractive. My wife catches me looking. Terry spends first night in Paris on floor.

Second day.

Rainy and cold. Where’s global warming? Homeless woman on street. Metro to Louvre. Metro quick quiet and efficient. Homeless guy on platform. Louvre. Great palace and architecture. Skipped Mona. Hammurabi’s code. Coronation of Josephine. Boucher. Café: I did not order that. Notre Dame. St. Louis. Why do French and Italian men insist on picking their noses in public. My wife inexplicably chooses Italian restaurant even though we were in Tuscany last week. No cheese platter (#%$%@). “Pardon, Monsieur, do you have any change.” 3:00 wake up call by Valentin and Dominique thwarted.

The last day was Versailles.

[James]

How many Frenchmen were killed in the World Trade Centers? Perhaps Sarkozy supports NYPD for this reason.

I am sooo glad I live amongst uncultured, bumbling, childish Americans! Now if you will excuse me, I have to kiss my parents for immigrating here!

[Kevin]

The difference between individuals and collectivist can be determind by the word "We". The logic of a Democracy would suggest that the Jews in Nazi Germany voted for their own extinction since "We" voted for Hitler... The most striking difference between individual freedom and socialism.

[Reza UK]

Yes! Agreed!

Democracy = 2 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what's for dinner.

US Constitutional Republic = Voting on what's for dinner is prohibited...And the sheep are armed.

[Terry]

Peter:

Civil liberties for the individual are important. So, is economic freedom for the individual. This means the freedom to do with the money you earned as you please. The U.S. government takes more and more of my money every year and gives it to other people. This has been the greatest threat to my freedom, not the government reading my emails. (I swear that girl was over 18).

Peter, please tell us about all the civil liberties you lost. Unless you get email privileges, it appears George has not thrown you in the Gulag yet. My bet is that you were one of the people screaming after 9/11 that George Bush failed to uncover the attack. Of course, you oppose any measures that would help prevent any future attacks. Lackawanna, Ft. Dix, now JFK airport. Do those names ring a bell?

[Valentin]

Terry :
"I actually took brief notes with you in mind while there."

Ok, ok, so what's the overall feeling of it ? Do you or do you not love the French more than you did before ? :))

[Dominique]

Terry came to France, and the big shift occured : he now complains about anything!

Jack says "The United States is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democrazy. This means that 50% +1 have no right to enslave/own the 50% -1"

You can also add that in the wonderfull constitutional US republic, the one who is elected is the one that makes 50%-1!

You are right, the US do have a very different approche of democracy...

You should directly rewrite the US constitution according to the US relity : "1$ = 1 voice" instead of "1 man = 1 voice"

[OdessaAmigo]

To Groucheaux:
I'm not sure what American ghetto or tree-hugger commune your 'gentils americains' slithered in from. Or if they exist at all. Your sophomoric simplification of all things American is straight out of the CNN or US Democratic party primer. What has Bush done to earn such scorn? Spurning the glorified,yet specious Kyoto Treaty, the one that gives China a pass so they can keep flooding world markets with their cheap goods while squashing basic freedoms? Or the fact he can see past V Putin's smirk and see the new Khrushchyov beneath and have the guts to say something about it. Imperial oil? Of the top four oil producers in the world, three are headquarted in Europe! Royal DUTCH Shell, BRITTISH Petroleum and Total S.A., headquartered in Paris! In the western hemisphere, Mexican officials and their friends grow fat on oil profits while abusing and/or ignoring the poor (no wonder they want to come to America). The new maniac de jour, Hugo Chavez has nationalized the oil business and started eliminating basic freedoms for Venezualen citizens, just for photo ops with Fidel Castro. No, mon ami Groucheaux, you are living in a fantasy world and you're not helping a single fellow human by living there.

[pouet]

Terry,
your comments about your trip in Paris are funny. It reminds me exactly of my trip in NY.

[Monika]

@Reza and Kevin
Although your analogies cannot be contradicted this is true for any form of governing, even the American one.
A majority in America was given to Bush and now in analogy to your examples all Americans would have been in favour to the Iraq war (even in 2003 I know it was not the case).

Fact is: a state with 100% individual freedom doesn't exist, cannot exist, will not exist since one's liberty ends where that of the other begins. Pure individual freedom would allow me to kill my neighbour just for fun but obviously this would limit too much the individual freedom of my neighbour. Ok, I know, it's a drastic example but I hope it made it clearer.

(in order to avoid misunderstandings: I don't condone the crimes commited under Nazi rule in any way or any other regime. As much as the fact that many people voted for them doesn't justify those crimes, even if they'd won a 99% majority. Btw the Nazi party never won by a majority although they became the strongest party in 1933)

[PeterD]

>My bet is that you were one of the people screaming after 9/11 that George Bush failed to uncover the attack.
Your bet sir is entirely presumptuous.

I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1960's. I went to a high school on the Narrows of New York Harbor. I walked to school every day and saw those Towers go up. And I saw them come down. Twenty-four of my fellow alumni died on September 11, 2001; some were cops, others firemen; some were stockbrokers.

George Bush has done nothing to either avenge their deaths or bring to justice the perpetrators of their murder. He has used their deaths to mask an unnecessary, ideologically driven war that has lost us the world's sympathy and has wrecked whatever moral superiority that we might have claimed for our own particular exceptionalism as the most generous of nations. He 'outsourced' the capture of Bin Laden when they had him cornered in Tora Bora. He has squandered our treasury while after-school programs go unfunded; guardsmen and reservists are pressed into limitless service while Kansas doesn't have the equipment to perform rescue operations after tornados strike.
You complain about how much money the government takes from you. Complain to Dick Cheney whose Halliburton Corp got your tax money through no-bid contracts and right-wing Republicans make sure that defense contracts go to their districts and little Vermont has one of the highest per capita rates of deaths in Iraq.
Lackawanna and Albany were sting operations and Ft Dix was uncovered by an alert store clerk and no one of us has protection in law - remember that? - isn't that what our Revolution was fought for? Protection under Law against an intrusive government? - Yet Bush has disregarded the provisions of the FISA law and written Presidential signing statements that basically nullify the intent of an already all too complaisant Congress.
Emails? Where are the missing emails from the RNC mail servers that Rove used to do business that was supposed to be retained under the post-Watergate document laws?
We are witnessing the death of the Republic and all you can complain about is taxes! The Constitution was written to safeguard Liberty not capitalism.

Peter D

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy"
Montesquieu

[Valentin]

Oh, and I reckon the champagne wasn't much to your exquisite taste, since not the slightest word about it at all !

[Daniel Strohl]

TERRY,

"A brutal dictator who killed millions".

Yes for the three first words, but from where did you get the figure "millions" ? Grammatically speaking, your formulation implies that there were at least 2 millions. This is a very huge figure.

"In effect, France has become the new U.S.S.R". May be, but without any credible « Parti Communiste » ....

Terry, you should have stayed a few more days in Paris. Two or three days ago, Le Monde (« the most august French newspaper » - Charles Bremner) published an article saying that « Le Parti Communiste » was almost broke – of course, Le Monde's gentlemen didn't use this vulgar word but adequate periphrasis. The communists are up to the point to sell a few paintings which they have in their rather luxurious headquarters located « place du Colonel Fabien » and which, BTW, you should have visited too ... Old George W. would have been pleased !

For your information : in France, political parties are financed by the state. The parties get 1.33 Euro (or 1.66 ? I didn't keep a copy of the article) per capita of each of their voters and a big sum per « député », which I have forgotten too. Le Parti Communiste did invest several millions Euros in the presidential campaign, only to get a very feeble ROI in number of voters. It is expected that the haemorrhage will continue in the upcoming « élections législatives » (next Sunday and the following Sunday) – the last opinion poll from Ipsos-Le Point credits them with a « market share » of 3.5% ... There are roughly 40 millions listed voters, abstentionists included, if I remember well.

Regarding anti-Americanism, which is often mentioned in this blog by various persons, much of it may be accounted to the Parti Communiste, which made during many years a fierce anti-capitalist (i.e. anti-American) propaganda. Many years after the war, the PC had still more than 20% of the votes. Its decline happened during the Mitterrand years, but was slow. Now it is close to the end.

Regarding after-WW II propaganda, some Americans were not bad either (Mc Carthy).

PS : Terry, you are as active now as you were prior to your trip to Paris. One may infer from these happy news that you were not poisoned by French cuisine (frog legs, snails, foie gras, 300 cheese sorts etc.) - or did you only eat Italian cuisine ? BTW, the best meal I have ever made in my life was in Italy, many years ago, close to the Lago di Como.

[Ade]

Oohh those damn crazy Yanks. It's all their fault. Anyway, I've just been drinking a beautiful 1999 Saint Emillion that has re-affirmed my faith in Bordeaux. Yes it was pricey, but so good.

Monika, you are profoundly un-informed about Swedish and French tax levels - and probably a lot of other things too. You don't work for La Poste, do you? Just something in your high-handed attitude towards others coupled with massive ignorance and stooopidity.

I shall try and shift down a few gears and educate your inconsiderable grey matter so that you can slag other people without them laughing at your "profound" thickness.

The fact is, France is the highest taxed country in the industrialised world. This is confirmed by what's considered to be the most accurate world tax index which is compiled by the respected Forbes magazine each year. It's called the Misery Index and here it is:

http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/03/forbes-misery-data-oped-cx_ja_0503data.html

Just skip the welcome screen and it'll take you there. Now I'm sure you'll say next "ah, but look at what you get for your money!". Well I get bugger-all and I pay over 50% of everything i earn to the French State. Now don't say I don't, Monika. I sign the cheques. For what I give to the State, I should be having a Bentley roll up outside full of nubile, young French girlies who'll carry me downstairs, stick a big Havana in my mouth and whisk me away to a pristine hospital where I'll have first-class 100% free treatment on my sclerotic liver.

This America-France thing is so tedious too. You've either got crazed Yanks screaming "we saved your goddam, smelly French asses in the war you bunch of ungrateful commmies" or French congratulating Jacques Chirac for his sincere moral stance against the US on behalf of those poor Iraqis. Yeah sure. He also nuked a few atols and invited round Mugabe for tea.

[Terry]

Valentin:

You said "Do you or do you not love the French more than you did before ? :))"

Well, it would be hard for me to love the French less than before I came. I rechecked my notes from the trip and couldn't find the word "love" anywhere. But...

I did enjoy Paris quite a bit. I always heard it was a "cafe culture" but I never really appreciated how many cafes are actually there are until I saw it for myself. Four or five a block. All crowded with chairs directly facing the street for "people watching". This made me often feel like the main attraction at a Zoo as I was walked by. Taking away the cafes, Paris looked a lot like London to me though. With the exception of a certain concierge (Meridien-Montparnasse), everyone was helpful and tolerant of my francais and anglais. One frenchman recognized I was a tourist and asked in french if I had a map. I did and I was able to direct HIM to where he wanted to go in french. Unfortunately, that was probably the most contact I had with anyone there other than Je voudrais...

I was struck by the number of homeless and beggers (for lack of a better term) on the street. I truly did believe that Paris was the exception among large cities for some reason. However, I was rather impressed with the beggers ability to ask for change in multiple languages.

The food was good but I was not overwhelmed (except w/the profiteroles at Coterisie de Lilas-don't get the $100 chicken). I still think the best food of the world is in Tuscany. But, our eating experience was rather limited so I will have to go back and try again. As for cheese, hands down-France wins.

I was also struck by how English has become the "common tongue" (tolkien). I watched both Germans and Italian tourists use English to get by. I heard a lot of American/English music on the radio (Cherie FM). I was trying to figure out why our music makes it in France but not visa versa. Occassionally, a non-english song will hit the U.S.(Der Kommissar, the ketchup song) but never a French one. I wonder if it because more French understand english or our music is better. Who are the French Beatles? Do they exist?

One last thing. Hopefully, Sandrine and the other women at this blog will not be offended by this observation. (Actually, I don't care if you are offended, I just said that to be polite). French women are, on average, the most attractive women in the world. And I have been all over-Brazil, Italy, Thailand, England, Czech, Egypt, Germany, California and Newark, New Jersey. I'm only 37 and even the 50-60 year olds were beautiful.

I am sorry to post all this irrelevant stuff here. Are we allowed to give out our email here?

[peterd]

>My bet is that you were one of the people screaming after 9/11 that George Bush failed to uncover the attack. Of course, you oppose any measures that would help prevent any future attacks.

Your bet sir is entirely presumptuous and I will not respond to your cheap debater's ploy of the straw man you set then set up for me to answer. Save that for you local National Front rally.

I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1960's. I went to a high school on the Narrows of New York Harbor. I walked to school every day and saw those Towers go up. And I saw them come down. Twenty-four of my fellow alumni died on September 11, 2001; some were cops, others firemen; some were stockbrokers.

George Bush has done nothing to either avenge their deaths or bring to justice the perpetrators of their murder. He has used their deaths to mask an unnecessary, ideologically driven war that has lost us the world's sympathy and has wrecked whatever moral superiority that we might have claimed for our own particular exceptionalism as the most generous of nations. He 'outsourced' the capture of Bin Laden when they had him cornered in Tora Bora. He has squandered our treasury while after-school programs go unfunded; guardsmen and reservists are pressed into limitless service while Kansas doesn't have the equipment to perform rescue operations after tornados strike.

You complain about how much money the government takes from you. Complain to Dick Cheney whose Halliburton Corp got your tax money through no-bid contracts and right-wing Republicans make sure that defense contracts go to their districts and little Vermont has one of the highest per capita rates of deaths in Iraq.

Lackawanna and Albany were sting operations and Ft Dix was uncovered by an alert store clerk and no one of us has protection in law - remember that? - isn't that what our Revolution was fought for? Protection under Law against an intrusive government? - Yet Bush has disregarded the provisions of the FISA law and written Presidential signing statements that basically nullify the intent of an already all too complaisant Congress.

Emails? Where are the missing emails from the RNC mail servers that Rove used to do business that was supposed to be retained under the post-Watergate document laws?

We are witnessing the death of the Republic and all you can complain about is taxes! The Constitution was written to safeguard Liberty not capitalism.

Peter D

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy"

Montesquieu

[Sandrine]

Hi Terry, I'm glad you're alive after your stay in hell.

Don't worry, I'm not offended (as it was supposed to be a compliment), I'm actually surprised you could find some nice stuffs in France...héhé, come back, we'll transform you in a good socialist !! :o)

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Terry:
Delete Cotiserie de Lilas
Insert Closerie de Lilas
When Hemingway ate there you could get pate de foie gras, lobster thermidor, two chickens, cheeseboard, Pouilly Fuisse, Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou,and change out of a dollar, to give to a nearby tramp.

[terry]

Daniel: The million include the Iran/Iraq war. Also, when I said the new USSR, I didnt mean France is the new totalitarian state. I meant economic model. Now, all the lefties in the US point to France as the model we should adopt. I will never eat snails, frogs or foie gras. The cheese was fabulous though.

Ade: That was funny. We do sound like that.

Valentin: You know, I didnt have any champagne in France. We did have several red French wines that were good.

Dominique: Yeah, it does sound like I am complaining. I really did like Paris though.

Peter: You forgot to say the lunar landing was a hoax filmed in a Hollywood studio.

Pouet: Thanks for the comment.