[quantim]

"Let them run naked." - Teresa Heinz-Kerry

[Boiler Plate]

Not only does suck to be French, now they know everyone else knows.

[glasseye]

"Our bad image in this area, the arrogance we are accused of, our refusal to speak foreign languages, the sense we give that it's a great honor to visit us are among the ugly facts of which we should not be proud,"

Well Duh.......

[Torie]

The French government has been trying to do this for aboutg 40 years now (per remembering what my Dad said), without much success. One can enjoy France, but it takes some rudimentary knowledge of the language, and an ability to adjust. It also helps to get away from Paris.

[mlocher]

thanks for the post. what a stupid analysis by the french! having been to all these locations, charles de gaul (or orly for that matter) are no better or worse than those of other big cities such as madrid, rome, beijing, london, los angeles or new york. i call it, "the big city" syndrom. of course, telling the prime minister that the french are not being visited because of their foreign policy of supporting terrorist states would probably make the poor man unemployed.

[Bonaparte]

Too little, too late. You can't make up for a dagger in somebody's back by smiling at him.

[newsworthy]

The French government particularly was alarmed by the 21 percent, or $6 billion, drop in spending by visitors from the United States.

Well, we're doing something right.

[KwasiOwusu]

The French are arrogant, rude and surly?
What's new about that?
You only have to look at Jacques Chirac and the disgusting French behavior over Iraq to see how pathetic and slimy the French are.
Nothing new there.
We have known about the French disease of weasel behavior for decades, going back to Napoleon, De Gaulle etc etc.

[beckett]

This report has a figure I've been wondering about. So it's a 21 percent drop off in American tourist dollars since the French stabbed us in the back. OK. I was hoping for a bigger drop but 21 percent is not bad.

[JoeSixPack1]

So even france has their own self-hating anti-french.

Now self-hating anti-Americans everywhere have even more in common with their heros.

[Redcloak]

Mr. Plasait concludes his report with 81 proposals on how the French can become better hosts.

Only 81? I'm sure that we can do better than that! I'll start...

1. Two words: Soap, water.
2. Learn to speak English, even if it's only to keep from hearing our bad French.
3. More "oui", less "weasel".
4. You don't need to surrender each and every time we walk into the room.

Feel free to add more!

[AIC]

Every since France made the U.S. pull out all of the troops from France in the late 1950's and pleated to the U.S. to get involved and protect them in Vietnam and then running out and leaving the U.S. and other Allies to fight in Vietnam, I have had no use for the French or every going there. I have had a couple of offers to go and I refused.

[Happy2BMe]

The 'Ugly Frenchie Franco' - ping.

___________________________________

'Our bad image in this area, the arrogance we are accused of, our refusal to speak foreign languages, the sense we give that it's a great honor to visit us are among the ugly facts of which we should not be proud.'

[lowbridge]

It is wrong to be French! -Al Bundy reciting one of the 9 commandments of Iron Head Haynes.

[cyborg]

I loved France. I didn't notice all of the rudeness that some claim there was, but then again I was very respectful and attempted to speak french. I met some very very ugly Americans in England, and if that's how a lot of Americans behave abroad well then I'd be rude to them too.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

They're even worse when they come over here. Nothing spoils a trip to the Grand Canyon like being on one of the park buses with a bunch of French tourists. Even Germans finish a distant second. (Exception: German military personnel training in the SW, seem to me to embody the epitome of courtesy.)

[LonePalm]

Il n'y a pas d'honte être français. Il y a seulement l'honte dans rester de français.
(There is no shame in being French. There is only shame in staying French.)

Don't judge all of France from Paris. Many of the people in the rest of France don't like Parisians either. Go to the south of France.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Pete'sWife]

I wanted to go to the beaches at Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

The problem was, I couldn't figure out how to visit France without actually BEING in France.

If I can ever work this out, I'll go.

[Publius6961]

D'OH!

It's a nice place to visit; once or twice.

What I would like to know, however, is what is the basis of this arrogance? A has-been culture, irrelevant and insignificant, and drowning in its own delusions.

Where can it go? Start a war or an internal strugle and self-destruct with the delusion of importance all the way to oblivion.

[freedumb2003]

The French government particularly was alarmed by the 21 percent, or $6 billion, drop in spending by visitors from the United States.

BBuuahahahahahahaha!!!!