Cameras ready? Hands up!
Posted on 07/30/2004 5:26:28 AM PDT by OESY
Mayor of Saint-Briac Knows It's Not the Time to Crow; 'He Was the Big American'
SAINT-BRIAC, France -- Brice Lalonde, the mayor of this little town in Brittany, flopped in his dark-horse 1981 bid to become president of France, winning just 4% of the vote. This year, he is hoping for a different prize: first cousin of the president of the United States.
Mr. Lalonde is the French-born cousin of John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts. Their mothers were sisters. On summer days as a 10-year-old in 1956, Brice (pronounced Breece) bicycled here along the rocky coast, went sailing and played capture-the-flag with John, then 12.
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And like most Frenchmen, they are rooting for Sen. Kerry to unseat George W. Bush, whom they blame for poisoning Franco-American relations in the dispute over whether to invade Iraq. A recent poll in Le Figaro showed 78% of French adults would vote for Mr. Kerry if they could, compared with 9% for Mr. Bush.
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At Mr. Lalonde's house, the mayor points to articles clipped from U.S. newspapers lying on the mantel. One, from the Boston Globe, details how the Republicans mock Mr. Kerry as an effete snob who "looks French." The article reports that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay started a meeting by quipping: "Good morning, or as John Kerry would say, Bonjour."
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The Gallic link has been a sensitive subject for the Kerry campaign. The campaign's Web site notes that because his father was a U.S. diplomat, "John Kerry traveled a lot when he was young," but it makes no mention of the French cousin or summer beach holidays in France.
Mr. Lalonde, a short, stocky man of 58, has a ready answer to the Republican accusation that his cousin is a closet Frenchman. "John Kerry does not have French roots," says Mr. Lalonde. "I have American roots."
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Even some locals mistakenly believe Mr. Kerry is French. "Well, it would be nice to have a president who is a little French," says Denis Warin, owner of a local fancy food shop, standing by rows of Camembert and Roquefort. "If Kerry comes, I'm sure he'll eat some of my cheese."
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This week, despite his concerns about French-baiting, Mr. Lalonde risked a visit to the Democratic National Convention, hobnobbing in Boston with environmental activists and visiting Sen. Kerry's daughters and the Winthrop part of his family there.
He says he was impressed when Teresa Heinz Kerry introduced herself at the convention in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and English. "I'm no longer so afraid," he says. "I thought Teresa was brave to speak out against xenophobia."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Cameras ready? Hands up!
With any luck Kerry will pull a "Lalonde".
As Rush would say, "Folks, you just can't make this stuff up!"
...And then, just to confirm his frenchness, he will surrender to the first German He sees.
Just too easy,
CC
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