A brief continuation of the Segolene Royal saga...apparently French Comedian Gerald Dahan called Ms Royal on Wednesday pretending to be Jean Charest, premier of Quebec. Of course snippets of this conversation have since hit the air. Dahan jokingly compares Royal's comments on Quebec to suggesting independence for Corsica to which Segolene allegedly replies, "The French people wouldn't be opposed to the idea..." laughs and then adds, "Don't repeat that, though -- it would cause another incident in France. It's a secret." Royal conveniently left the next day for a trip to the French Antilles and has not been available for comment. Segolene's handlers really need to get a handle on their candidate.
5 comments:
Oh my...see, the upsetting thing from the *French* perspective is that the alternatives to Segolene are 1)Le Pen, whose party is the closest thing to the Nazi party that France has seen since WWII; and 2) Sarkozy, who is just a right-centrist jerk who thinks all immigrants should get out, NOW, (among other things).
And they each have about 20-25% of the population behind them...
When you look at the party platforms of these guys, Segolene's comments seem fairly innocuous, if only because they don't involve deporting tens of thousands of very poor people and cutting back welfare services to the poor folks who get to stay.
I guess this is kind of like the Bush-Kerry election in '04: they all kind of suck (though some much worse than others...).
Lady Bonds, I readily admit that I don't know much about French politics and the alternatives certainly sound dismal if not down right scary. It is most unfortunate that Ms Royal has received such bad press and it seems more like a comedy of errors than any ill intent. I'm not sure if you noticed my use of the word "allegedly." I am unsure if it was actually confirmed that it was indeed Segolene on the other end of the phone and Gerald Dahan, it has been reported, alligns himself closely with one of the other candidates. Canada is a very socialist state and I would never endorse or support the deporting of immigrants or cutting back services to those who need it most. Perhaps you would like to balance out my posts with a more indepth look at the other two candidates. Would you be willing to do a guest posting to educate us all?
Carla,
I'd love to, and thanks. I should warn that I'm certainly no expert on French politics--just pick up things the way one does living in a big city. But give me a day or so and I'll see what I can come up with, talking with folks who know a lot more about it than I do and who have far more sophisticated understandings of the issues at stake. It'll be a good exercise, and hopefully spur some debate, or at least educate (I know I'll be educating myself...).
It would also be great to have a Canadian perspective on, for example, immigration. It's a hugely devise issue over here (in *all* European countries), and moderates who 20 years ago would have had nothing against immigration now find themselves virulently opposed to it, simply because of the sheer quantity and the social problems that accompany it.
And, even further, it would be great to know about Canadian politics. I fall under the category of "United States citizens who are horribly ignorant of their northern neighbor."
Thanks for the opportunity!
Guest blogs? Interesting. Would you two care to take over the Dark for a spell, and I'll take a bit of a vacation? ;)
Let me know. Until then, I'd better go write something...
Lady Bond, I will definitely look into doing a posting on immigration here in Canada. I will have to do a little more research. Overall, most Canadians are not against it has we haven't had too many social problems in the past. I have certainly seen an increase in prejudices since 9-11 though. I suppose they were probably always there, but they tend to come out when people feel threatened. And then today I just read something on the fact that governments (provincial & federal) are not supporting immigrants like they have in the past (ESL etc) and that is now creating issues. There are lots of interesting issues surrounding immigration.
Fool, what sort of posts are you looking for? Let us know if you have something specific in mind.
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