France 2012: the official thread

[Landslide Lyndon]

The idea that people are too rational to do stupid stuff when running for office has never been correct. Look at John Edwards, Tiger Woods, Richard Nixon and so on and so forth.

But I suppose it might be French customs not really mixing with American.

As deplorable as John Edwards is, he never raped anyone.  I mean, as Chris Rock once said, rape is number 2 on the scale of bad things.  There's murder, then there's rape.  This isn't a standard scandal at all...outside of Moshe Katsav, I can't name a prominent politician this past decade brought up on rape charges (one of you will prove me wrong).

That's irrelevant as regards questions of intelligence though.

I don't want to be bigoted but what is rape in NY might not be considered rape by a French bigshot.

As the saying goes, a lady who says no means maybe, a lady who says maybe means yes and a lady who says yes isn't a lady. I'm sure our charming resident sexists can add on similar ideas.

My high school French teacher worked as an au pair in France and the dad of that family tried to force himself on her. It was no biggie in his eyes.

(and, I can mention Zuma to prove you wrong)

WTF are you talking about? Rape is rape, period. We aren't talking here about an Arab seikh or an African king where the cultures about the role of woman are vastly different.
We are talking about a French politician, who already had trouble in the past with sexual scandals, so he could hardly consider himself above suspicion.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Imagining that he could flee is just ridiculous.

Sure...

He has money, he can flee if he wants.
Some people just don't want to go in jail.

It would make him definitely guilty and as popular as Hitler - yes, in France too. If he wants a future, he has no choice but staying.

If he is guilty, then he has no future anyway, but fleeing back to France could keep him out of jail.

How? Can't he be extradited to the States?

[Landslide Lyndon]

I saw today in our news that Sarkozy is taking heat from all quarters for his stunt of airing his (supposedly ultra-secret) teleconference with Obama in order to give the impression that Obama is somehow endorsing him for reelection. Is that true?

[Landslide Lyndon]

(...which comes as a confirmation of the fact the French are morons, but that's besides the point)

I'm sure Phil will have no trouble agreeing with that

Italians are even dumber, however.

I don't know if they are dumber but I always laughed with an anecdote a friend of mine told me when we were in the Navy:

-What book you won't find in any library of the world, even the biggest and more prestigious ones?

-"Italy's Military Triumphs".

[Landslide Lyndon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire

Actually this deserves a facepalm but because I'm in good mood today I'll just say to you that we are talking about the state of Italy which was founded in 1861.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Well let's check the record; the reunified Italy actually won most of its wars (if only because they tended to pick on weak opponents or choose the winning side).

Won:

Austro-Prussian War (on a technicality)
Occupation of the Papal States
Occupation of Eritrea
Boxer Rebellion
Italo-Ottoman War
World War I
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
Occupation of Albania

Lost:

First Italo-Ethiopian War
World War II

LOL! Yeah, come tell me how many wars Italians won. I am very impressed.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Even though I don't understand a word of French, I am often forced to watch more of this election than I want to for personal reasons.  I have no preferences, as the French quasi-monarchy/top-down-run bureaucratic super-structure is perhaps the least innovative and most necessary of complete demolition in Europe (if not the world), so it's not like any particular option changes this state of events.

1) The numbers have long suggested that Sarkozy is toast. (like for the past year).  Probably a 1% chance that I'm wrong here, and it may well depend on Hollande showing he is incompetent somehow (possible).
2) I really don't understand why the Socialists want to be in power now, of all times, as when they get in, they're soon going to have start f-ing their own constituency base because they will have no choice (see Zapatero).  But when Mickey Mouse (or French equivalent) can likely win, you really have no other option, I guess.
3) As above, I don't understand French, but I do watch for other things, and I can tell you that Hollande will be a bad president at a time when France will not need one.  You will probably get something a whole lot worse the next time around, and that person may actually have talent.

That is all for now.

You know what they say Sam, about how it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt?
That.

[Landslide Lyndon]

This isn't looking good at all.

*Sigh* I like Sarkozy.

He will be missed.

No. I refuse to give up. France can't go the way of Greece and Spain with Hollande. People need to wake up in the polling booths and realize this is no time to be throwing the UMP out for something as risky as the Socialists.

I've got news for you: it was the conservatives who threw our economy off a cliff between 2004-09.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I think that every time you post.

I assure you, the feeling is mutual.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Then in 96 the new Social Democratic PM cut the budget so much his base revolted and went voting for the commies, and kept a really tight austerity budget, and it worked and that is the reason Sweden is not part of the crisis today. 

The reason Sweden is not part of the crisis is because they're not part of the Eurozone.

As much as I hate the Euro, the Euro itself has very little to do with wether a country's economy had a crisis or not.      

You're wrong. If we had our currency then we could have gone through this crisis much less painfully by devaluing it, just like Poland does.
Also we could've used inflation to lighten the private debt, which crushes our middle class families, and spur growth.

Unfortunately we are wearing a straitjacket and the only thing that troika does is ask from us to tighten it even more.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Then in 96 the new Social Democratic PM cut the budget so much his base revolted and went voting for the commies, and kept a really tight austerity budget, and it worked and that is the reason Sweden is not part of the crisis today. 

The reason Sweden is not part of the crisis is because they're not part of the Eurozone.

As much as I hate the Euro, the Euro itself has very little to do with wether a country's economy had a crisis or not.      

You're wrong. If we had our currency then we could have gone through this crisis much less painfully by devaluing it, just like Poland does.

If you bothered to read my entire post you'd see that's exactly what I said.

But the fact is that Euro caused the problem, not just aggravated it. There are countries with bigger debt than Greece that have no problem to borrow in low rates just because they still have their own currency and their own independent monetary policy.

I don't disagree that a big dose of fiscal austerity is needed in our case only (in Spain and Italy it's a disastrous recipe) but without having the flexibility of a national currency it might prove to be a costly and failed experiment.

[Landslide Lyndon]

For a Greek to chide another country for being militarily inept is amusing.  Have you been to Trebizond, Smyrna, or Constantinople lately?

No. But considering our size it's pretty amazing how many empires we defeated through the course of history, from Persians to Italians.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I read that he promised to authorize the police to shoot to kill any suspicious looking guy they encounter. I guess if Zimmerman skips bail then we might have just found where he is heading to.  

[Landslide Lyndon]

Sarkozy will be re-elected.

Elaborate.

Elaborate? Uh. Sarkozy will win re-election to a second term as President of the French Republic.

Like Santorum won reelection in 2006?

[Landslide Lyndon]

I find it a bit amusing that everybody talks about a poll that shows Hollande at 53% and not the other two from the same period who show him at 54 and 55%.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Wildly unpopular -> At 47% (or at least 46%)

Not exactly a huge margin to make up with a debate against a weak performer forthcoming.

Well, Sarkozy's win in 2007 wasn't exactly a blowout either, even though he was much more popular and had weak opposition.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Where are our Frenchies?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Obama beat McCain 53% to 46%, not 51% to 46%.

You forgot the Bradley effect.