[shrinkermd]

One can only hoper for this outcome; however, IMHO the problem with Europeans is they deny any necessity for the nation state and, basically, believe in a trans-national identity. Most Americans (other than liberals) believe otherwise and this difference is unlikely to change regardless of any election.

[happygrl]

This is the best news I've heard from France in my lifetime.

One can only hope that Mr. Sarkozy will bring France to its senses.

[Wonder Warthog]

"One can only hoper for this outcome; however, IMHO the problem with Europeans is they deny any necessity for the nation state and, basically, believe in a trans-national identity. Most Americans (other than liberals) believe otherwise and this difference is unlikely to change regardless of any election."

Not true. What the Europeans are attempting to do is meld a group of small nation-states into a much larger unitary nation-state---pretty much exactly what the US Constitution eventually did. The only real difference is that the Europeans are trying to "do the deed" in a few decades, while the process in the USA took a century and a half.

Do you, these days, think of yourself primarily as a citizen of the state you reside in, or primarily a citizen of the United States?? Before the Civil War, folks used to think of themselves as "state citizens" first, and "nation citizens" second.

Disclaimer---I do NOT agree that we here in the USA are the better for the change.

[FairOpinion]

I didn't know Sarkozy is conservative.

I vaguely remember reading just the opposite some time ago.

This article says he is a "conservative finance minister".

Hmm.

[happygrl]

Unable to exclude him from politics — Mr. Sarkozy is simply too popular — Mr.Chirac has tried to ruin him by giving him the beastliest jobs in the cabinet. In 2002, with French crime rates soaring, Mr. Sarkozy was made interior minister. He thrilled the French electorate by hiring thousands of police officers and insisting, to the new recruits’ dismay, that they actually enter bad neighborhoods.

He stepped up raids on suspected terrorist groups. He successfully cracked down on drunk and reckless driving, an important achievement in a nation with Third World rates of vehicular homicide. Crime statistics fell in 2003 for the first time in six years.

Mr. Sarkozy reached out to France’s Muslims, heretically suggesting that France adopt affirmative action, but had no fear of confronting them. He proposed expulsion for clerics who incite violence or call for the violation of French law. His most important achievement, however, was the enactment of forceful measures to combat a swelling wave of anti-Semitic violence perpetrated by Muslims of North African origin.

Prior to Mr. Sarkozy, the government had reacted tepidly to these outrages, dismissing them as trivial juvenile delinquency. Mr. Sarkozy formed a new police unit to investigate anti-Semitic crime, announcing that perpetrators would receive double sentences.

He banned demonstrators from displaying swastikas or other anti-Semitic symbols. Addressing a Unesco conference in Paris, he affirmed his “categorical refusal to explain the madness of anti-Semitism by the situation in the Middle East,” and repeated his zero-tolerance policy toward racially motivated attacks.

The phrase was deliberately borrowed from Mayor Giuliani, whose approach to law enforcement he has studied carefully. To Mr. Chirac’s horror, Mr. Sarkozy’s approval ratings continued to rise.

Take a look at this.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I really think it goes much deeper into their national inferiority complex.

One small incident shows their morals while I was changing terminals in Paris.
I was on an airport bus and a baggage driver cut in front of the bus and lost a piece of luggage off a trailer.
He looked back and laughed.
Our bus driver swerved so he would run over the luggage.
Some of the people (who looked French) laughed and clapped for the driver running over the luggage.

[GSlob]

"Europeans... believe in a trans-national identity. "
That would be not too bad, if that identity of theirs was not such a crappy one.

[Grampa Dave]

We can help defeat ChIraq by continuing to boycott products made in France or by companies owned by the French.

The Brits have boycotted the French wines so effectively that in the list of top ten imported wines, no French Wines are in the top ten.

Also, real conservatives will not go to France for vacation, as two former friends found out from me after they were outed re a sneaky two week trip to the French Wine Country and a few days in Paris.

[July 4th]

Sarkozy is not perfect, but he is the best politican to come out of France for quite some time. He even gets along well with Rudy Giuliani, who was invited by Sarkozy to France to talk about the changes made in the NYC police force.

There is an issue, however, with his ability to succeed in his drive for power. Chirac has set the inner workings of his party to make it difficult for any internal challenger. Sarkozy is clearly the better candidate, but the right-winger behind Chirac may have enough power to scuttle Sarkozy's bid.

The national popularity is there, though. I remember watching the election results from a while back when Chirac went against Le Pen for the presidency. Sarkozy was prominent on all of the networks, and clearly won the national poll when the French networks asked "Who would you like to have as Prime Minister?"

[McGavin999]

In 1993, when Mr. Sarkozy was simultaneously the mayor of the French suburb of Neuilly and France’s budget minister, a madman took 21 schoolchildren hostage in Neuilly, threatening to blow them up. While the minister of the interior and the prime minister remained safely in their offices, Mr. Sarkozy drove directly to the school and offered to exchange himself for the hostages. It is rather hard to imagine Mr. Chirac doing the same thing.

I have to admit, I'm impressed.