Jewish World Review April 24, 2002 / 13 Iyar, 5762
Debra J. Saunders
Oooh la la, Le Pen
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
After all the French snootiness about
America's "cowboy" president, George W. Bush,
after all the French horreur because U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft is seeking the death penalty
against the French-born Zacarias Moussaoui (the
so-called 20th hijacker), after the Paris City Council
named convicted Philadelphia cop-killer Mumia
Abu Jamal an honorary citoyen of Paris,
America has her revenge.
C'est delicieux. After all the French moaning about
ugly Americans (and implied French superiority),
French voters' chose Jean-Marie Le Pen -- call him
Le Racist -- as runner-up in Sunday's presidential
primary. Le Pen will challenge incumbent Jacques
Chirac, who won only 20 percent of the vote in a
crowded field of candidates, in the May 5 general
election.
How did this happen?
Conservative Pat Buchanan couldn't garner even
half of 1 percentage point in the 2000 U.S. election.
Le Pen won 17 percent of the vote -- despite his
checkered past. In 1987, Le Pen described Nazi
gas chambers as "a detail of history." He befriended
Iraq's Saddam Hussein. He was banned from
holding public office for a year after he was found
guilty and fined for punching a female Socialist
deputy???? in 1997.
Oddly, Le Pen was aided by the French left, as
many on the gauche voted for Green and Commie
candidates apparently in protest of Socialist Prime
Minister Lionel Jospin's centrist leanings. Political
analyst Dominique Moisi told the Washington Post
that "the protest vote went overboard." No lie. The
Trotskyite won 6.3 percent of the vote. While
French talking-heads had anticipated a
Chirac-Jospin run-off, Jospin garnered only 16
percent of the vote. Now he says he's retiring from
politics.
Jospin's campaign manager, Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, already announced that he will vote
for Chirac, telling reporters, "Le Pen's score, for the
honor of France, must be as low as possible." Polls
indicate Chirac will trounce Le Pen soundly.
In the meantime, Chirac has to understand that
while many Le Pen voters shamefully share his racist
leanings, Le Pen also may have been the desperate
choice of fine French citizens with legitimate beefs.
Le Pen credits his opposition to the European
Union -- many French workers and voters oppose
adding atop the unresponsive French bureaucracy
an even less responsive European bureaucracy.
Also, French foreign policy has been so supportive
of Palestinians that, according to reports, Le Pen
tried to appeal to frustrated Jewish voters.
What's more, many French citizens were rattled
when attendees of North African descent at a
French soccer game held after Sept. 11 heckled
"The Marseillaise," the French national anthem.
Some attendees chanted Osama bin Laden's name
in its place. Such demonstrations can put the public
in a law-and- order mood.
In fact, France has had a crack anti-terror unit for
years that has worked aggressively -- and
cooperatively with the United States -- to prosecute
terrorist cells. Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere -- the
Rudolph Giuliani of France - - opened an inquiry
into a plot against U.S. interests in France on Sept.
10 last year.
The gouvernement's rhetoric, however, has seemed
more critical of the United States than those who kill
children and civilians on purpose. Consider Justice
Minister Marylise Lebranchu's protest against U.S.
prosecution of Moussaoui -- which seemed more
mindful of French sovereignty than the senseless
killing of 3,000 people.
And so the government's snooty tone caught up
with Chirac and Jospin. It appears that French
politicians got too snooty -- even for the
French.
Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here.
04/15/02: Drill Alaska -- for the children
04/11/02: A good marriage with an esteemed soul mate -- well, nothing beats it
04/09/02: Tied up and Taliban
04/05/02: No justice in reparations
04/01/02: Schools, yes; fat police, no
03/25/02: The government-induced doctor shortage
03/22/02: Conservative hypocrisy on school drug testing?
03/20/02: And now, about Russell Yates . . .
03/18/02: Bush isn't worried about alienating loyalist voters
03/13/02: No exit strategy
03/11/02: Simon hits the big time
03/06/02: He got away
03/01/02: Mary, Luke, Paul, John and Noah
02/25/02: These are good days for veep
02/21/02: Dirty bill for a dirty mess
02/19/02: Score one for Greta
02/15/02: Dose of justice needed here
02/08/02: Sunshine all around
02/04/02: Does citizenship matter?
02/01/02: End the coverup
01/30/02: Try this for "troubling"
01/25/02: Camp X-ray or Club Med?
01/23/02: Let's stop the deluge of porn e-mail
01/21/02: No 'Little Boy Lost'
01/16/02: Son of Supercar
01/12/02: Beware the European view of the death penalty
01/09/02: Other people's children
01/07/02: It doesn't fly
01/03/02: Going from the Atlantic City Boardwalk to Berkeley
12/31/01: In America, punishment should fit the crime
12/28/01: What I'd like to see in 2002
12/24/01: Don't heckle ink monopolists
12/21/01: Mumia finds safety in numbers
12/19/01 The self-help PBS shopping network
12/17/01 Caught on tape
12/14/01 Know when to hold 'em
12/10/01 Old friends
12/06/01 I read the news today, oh boy
12/03/01 It's not cricket
11/28/01 Admissions and omissions
11/26/01 Guns and abayas
11/21/01 Depraved minds think alike
11/19/01 Guilty, a la carte
11/14/01 Interpreting the entrails of Election 2000
11/12/01 Life and liberty
11/09/01 Safety is as safety does
11/07/01 More hot air on global warming
11/05/01 Bumped Pakistani's molehill
11/01/01 Freedom snuffed out
10/29/01 Give war a chance
10/26/01 Airline bill needs liftoff
10/22/01 The Riordan Principle
10/19/01 Before America gets tired of the war on terrorism
10/17/01 Patriot games
10/15/01 I was a 'McCainiac,' and I have seen the light
10/12/01 University of Censorship's fall semester
10/11/01 Poor little rich boy, Osama
10/07/01 Don't feed Israel to the beast
10/05/01: bin Laden is not our Frankenstein monster
10/04/01: Where no man has gone before
09/26/01: Who's bloodthirsty?
09/26/01: What's to understand?
09/20/01: Barbara Lee's line in the sand
09/14/01: You gotta love this country
09/13/01: ENTER TERROR
09/11/01: You can't clone ethics
09/06/01: NOW's goal: equal rights for women without equal responsibility
08/30/01: What's love got to do with it?
08/24/01: A clean, well-lighted place for junkies
08/20/01: Bush should stand up for justice
08/08/01: Don't give Peace (Dept). a chance
08/03/01: Lose a kid, pass a law
08/01/01: Welcome to France, killers
07/30/01: Why it's easy being green (in Europe)
07/26/01: If disabled means expendable
07/23/01: Condit should not resign
07/18/01: Feinstein should learn her limit
07/16/01: A drought of common sense
07/13/01: The catalog has no clothes
07/05/01: It's Bush against the planet
07/03/01: The man who would be guv
06/29/01: Wheeled, wired and free
06/27/01: O, fearful new world
06/25/01: End HMO horrors
06/21/01: Either they're dishonest or clueless
06/18/01: Freedom is a puff of smoke
06/15/01: In praise of going heavy: Yes, you can take it all
06/13/01: McVeigh: 'Unbowed' maybe, but dead for sure
06/11/01: Gumby strikes back
06/08/01: Los Angeles' last white mayor?
06/07/01: Kids will be kids, media will be media
06/04/01: Draw a line in the sand
05/30/01: Just don't call him a moderate
05/29/01: Operation: Beat up on civil rights
05/24/01: Of puppies, kittens and huge credit-card debts
05/22/01: Bush needs an energy tinkerbell
05/18/01: Divided we stand, united they fall
05/16/01: Big Bench backs might over right
05/15/01: Close SUV loophole
05/11/01: Kill the test, welcome failure
05/09/01: DA mayor's disappointing legacy
05/07/01: If it ain't broken ...
05/03/01: They shoot civilians, don't they?
04/30/01: Executions are not for prime time
04/12/01: White House and the green myth
04/10/01: The perjurer as celeb
04/04/01: Bush bashers don't know squat
04/02/01: Drugging our oldsters
03/30/01: Robert Lee Massie exercises his death wish
03/28/01: Cheney's nuclear reactor
03/26/01: Where California and Mexico meet
03/16/01: Boy's sentence was no accident
03/14/01: Soft money, hard reform
03/12/01: Banks, big credit lines and consumer bankruptcy
03/09/01: Free speech dies in Berkeley
03/02/01: When rats have rights
02/28/01: Move a frog, go to jail?
02/26/01: They knew they'd get away with it
02/20/01: How Dems define tax fairness
02/16/01: The jackpot casino Carmel tribe?
02/14/01: You can fight school success
02/12/01: Hannibal -- with guts this time
02/08/01: A family of jailbirds
02/05/01: Reality's most demeaning TV moments
02/01/01: Justice for the non-Rich
01/26/01: Hail to the chiefs of D.C. opinion
01/24/01: A day of mud and monuments
01/22/01: Diversity, division, de-lovely D.C.
01/19/01: Parties agree: Give back the money
01/17/01: Get tough with the oil companies, or forget pumping more Alaskan crude
01/15/01: Mineta better pray that no attending confirmation senator has ever driven to San Jose during rush hour
01/12/01: Europeans should look in the mirror
01/10/01: Dems' reasons for dissin' Dubya's picks
01/08/01: Jerry, curb your guru
01/03/01: A foe of Hitler and friend of Keating
12/28/00: Nice people think nice thoughts
12/26/00: The Clinton years: Epilogue
12/21/00: 'Tis the season to free nonviolent drug offenders
12/18/00: A golden opportunity is squandered
12/15/00: You can take the 24 years, good son
12/13/00: Court of law vs. court of public opinion
12/08/00: A salvo in the war on the war on drugs
12/06/00: Don't cry, Butterfly: Big trees make great decks
12/04/00: Florida: Don't do as Romans did
11/30/00: Special City's hotel parking ticket
11/27/00: No means yes, yes means more than yes
11/22/00: The bench, the ballot and fairness
11/20/00: Mendocino, how green is your ballot?
© 2000, Creators Syndicate
|