French Presidential Election 22 April 2007 Thread

[Cubby]

I've supported Royal since late 2005, but from what I've heard so far, Bayrou would be great too.

Royal's grand list of programs a few weeks ago seemed very old-school socialist to me. I'm starting to wonder if I should switch to Bayrou.

I don't hate Sarkozy, but I like him far less than Chirac, who wasn't that bad.

Will Bayrou being Occitan (or Occitan-speaking?) be an issue of any kind in this election?

[Cubby]

PS: the assimilation Criminals-Citizens by royal is disgusting.

What does that mean?

I still haven't decided between Bayrou and Royal.

[Cubby]

Decide for Sarkozy. Royal has no experience, she's disgusting me by flip-flopping. Bayrou is just an opportunist with a centrist platform that makes no sense. Bayrou and Royal is a vote for status quo, vote for Sarkozy, vote for change and action.

But I'm a liberal   Sarkozy is too right wing for me. I usually support mainstream left wing candidates like Blair, Zapatero and Kerry.

France needs change, and Sarkozy is the most capable of doing that. But this is part of why I can't support him:

Times Online article from December 2005, about France's reaction to Elton John's partnership announcement.

http://timescorrespondents.typepad.com/charles_bremner/2005/12/sir_elton_et_la.html

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So even though I realize that Royal and her agenda would be bad for France's economy, I have to support her because Sarkozy is just as bad as Bush, Howard and Putin. If he and Bayrou make it to the 2nd round, I'll support the latter, since he's okay with adoption but not marriage.

It may seem strange to some that I base my entire candidate endorsements on one issue but when you are part of a despised minority, you have to support those who see you as equals.

PS: the assimilation Criminals-Citizens by royal is disgusting.

What does that mean?

Royal: "She said the riot was a symptom of the lack of ``mutual confidence'' between citizens and the police"

it's not between citizens and police but between criminals and police. Criminals are not citizens. There deserve a strong punition. And, not only for royal but also for the entire left: stop to say "young people" to design criminals. The majority of young people are honest and respect law and order. Stop amalgam.

I understand what you mean now, she wasn't tough against the rioters.

But criminals are citizens too, they don't don't lose all their rights once they commit a crime.

[Cubby]

Margaret Thatcher..... is the bogey-woman

You got that right

She voted in favour of the decriminalisation of homosexuality.....

When, in 1967? How kind of her. The Wolfenden Report recomended decriminalizing it in 1957, but Parliament did nothing about it for 10 years because of public opposition.This is my problem with British Government, if you leave everything to the legislative branch (i.e. Parliament in this case) then only popular things get passed. Our Supreme Court can make laws that aren't popular, but are the right thing to do. (Usually).

Margaret Thatcher was an awful Prime Minister. Section 28, trying to ban Heather Had 2 Mommies. She was a mean, vindictave person whose homophobia came from nowhere, she wasn't very religious, so she just did things like that out of spite. I have a hard time believing Southern England (The Tory Hearland) is a bastion of Christian homophobia. I'm not saying Neil Kinnock was good, but Thatcher and Reagan were terrible. They're only popular today because communism was already collapsing at the time but they get credit for its defeat.

Sorry about that detour. The poll on this page is great news, Royal is only behind by 2 points!! Thats an improvement, although this seems to be a different poll than the ones we've been seeing on here. Bayrou isn't doing to well, which is bad. He's a much better option than the Demagogue Sarkozy.

[Cubby]

Just what I was worried about...

Sarkozy slipping towards the end - http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/17/europe/EU-POL-France-Election.php

That article says there are a large number of "Anyone but Sarkozy" voters, that describes me. Either Royal or Bayrou would make a great President.

Le Pen better not make it to second round again. Last time I didn't have much of a problem with Chirac, so it was okay. But Sarkozy is a demagogue Huey Long-type populist who makes me uneasy. There's something bad in his character, I can't quite describe it.

I get the feeling rural French voters think Royal is a liberal soccer-mom type, which probably explains the support for Bayrou, since he's a farmer.

[Cubby]

Sarkozy   29%
Royal       25%
Bayrou     18%
Le Pen     18%


I've also changed my mind a bit about Sarkozy. As I've said all along, for economic reasons, France should elect him. But I don't like him personally due to other issues. So perhaps my negative views should take a back seat to France's long term interests. However, I have a feeling that if he's elected, there will be lots of strikes and protests in the near future b/c his reforms won't be popular with everyone.

I haven't heard Royal give any speeches, so I don't understand this "talking to us like we're kids" thing that keeps being mentioned. I would vote for Royal based on social issues.

And I hope I speak for all of us when I say that I hope Le Pen doesn't make it to the second round this time.

[Cubby]

If Royale wins expect Sharia law in france in 20-30 years

Oh, please. I'm no fan of Royal, but that's utter bullsh**t, and you know it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Except I am sort of a fan of hers.

If its not too late, I'd like to revise my prediction:

Sarkozy  28%
Royal      26%
Le Pen    18%
Bayrou    18%

I hope that Tunisian Poll is right, although its the first one I've seen with Royal leading, so it might be an outlier (sp?)

Vive la France!

[Cubby]

I've been assuming that Le Pen's support in the polls is not accurate because in 2002, many people didn't want to admit that they were voting for him. It'll be interesting to see if thats still the case, or if people are more honest now and there isn't a "shame" factor.

There's nothing about the election on TV at all! In May 2005, C-SPAN (and maybe CNN) had live coverage of the British vote. Thats the only time I can remember it happening for another country's election.

Less than an hour to go!