(no subject)

[lithera]

Wow. I've been reading about Le Pen and his win in France. He called the Holocaust a detail of history. Anyone who has Vladimir Zhirinovsky speaking in his favor is not the sort of person I want running any country. (Zhirinovsky was up against Putin (if I remember correctly) and had such lovely ideas as putting nuclear waste on the border of Russia and putting fans behind it to blow it into Poland and reclaiming all of the land to which Russia had ever held claim. He's nutty at best.) I don't like Chirac much, but this guy is so much worse.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/22/france.election/index.html

Comments

[raphael96.livejournal.com]

You think *you* are uncomfortable? Its worse actually being here. People at my fencing club were in shock tonight as they realize that with a horrible sequence of events, he could be running things.

Chirac should be in jail, but must be supported over the creature running opposite.

If Le Pen wins...yikes!!

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I can't even imagine. It must be horrible.

totally off topic.

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

I come and pick you up, yes???????

5:30.

cya there.

[warpdragon.livejournal.com]

It was interesting to read that CNN article and the one linked from it about extremists rising. While I'm no fan of Le Pen, I liked that the French were rejecting mainstream politicians, "sending a message" to them. The writer of the second piece chalked it up to voters placing more importance on long-held ideology than compromise; I'm inclined to say it's more like rejecting the Same Old Thing in favor of Something Else.

Le Pen took second, but assuming Chirac can get all the votes from everyone left of him - and he will - Le Pen will get squashed like a grape in the runoff. In the meantime, the left's voters have sent a clear message to their politicians that they expect true leftism, not this "third way" crap a la Clinton/Blair.

And because everything comes back around to soccer: I remember reading that Le Pen's support took a hit in '98 after a multiethnic French team won the World Cup. It was hard to preach intolerance when black players like Thierry Henry and the Algerian Zinedine Zidane were national heroes. Too bad that didn't last...

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I'm jut taking my cue from people in France who seem amazingly unhappy about this turn of events. Voter apathy will kick everyone in the ass one of these days.