Posted on 04/21/2002 4:35:10 PM PDT by Pokey78
TELEVISION cameras and reporters were thrown out of the campaign headquarters of Lionel Jospin, the French Prime Minister and Socialist candidate last night as staff wept in near silence over the defeat of their chief. The Socialists just did not want the nation to see their grief. The “Workshop”, as M Jospin called the red-draped one-time theatre, entered a state between shock and disbelief after word filtered earlier in the evening that the Prime Minister had been eclipsed by Jean-Marie Le Pen. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening,” said Cecile Pernod, one of the young campaign staffers, as the news sank in after 8pm. Others began hugging each-other, knocking plastic coffee cups off their working tables. The television announcement of the Socialist defeat triggered a gasp of disbelief and M Jospin withdrew to his fifth floor office. A crowd of several hundred supporters gathered outside in the street, on the Right Bank, not far from the the Pompidou modern arts museum. The anger was palpable as many vowed revenge against the far right in parliamentary elections next month.“Chirac is going to pay for this. The country will punish the Right for doing this,” said one middle-aged man who said he had always backed the late President Mitterrand. Security guards kept the doors firmly closed to the media as ministers came and went, many of them voicing sorrow for M Jospin. “This is an extraordinarily cruel blow for Lionel,” said Martine Aubry, a former deputy Prime Minister who left the Government two years ago. “He worked hard for the country and this is what happened.” Over two hours after the polls closed, the cameras came on again and M Jospin appeared on the stage, along at the podium behind his slogan “Présider Autrement” (A different presidency). Trembling and looking even greyer than usual, M Jospin clenched his jaw and gracefully accepted defeat. A huge cheer went up, interrupting him. Pleading for silence, he talked of the “thunder clap” that had struck last night with the rise of the far right. “After five years of work devoted entirely to the service of our country, this is profoundly disappointing for me and for those who accompanied me.” The defeat was a result of rightwing demagogy and the fragmenting of the Left, he said. He added: “I accept full responsibility and am retiring from political life.” The hall erupted with emotion, forcing the Prime Minister to appeal for silence as he completed his sentence...“retiring from political life after the end of the Presidential elections.” Lionel Jospin was born to a middle-class Protestant family in 1937 in the Paris suburb of Muedon. He was a product of the elite Ecole National d’Administration, where he became a Trotskyist. He joined the Internationalist Communist Organisation (OCI) and took the code-name Comrade Michel. He became an economics professor and in 1971 joined Francois Mitterrand’s new Socialist Party. Retained covert links to the OCI until the mid-1980s. M Jospin, addressing supporters after results showed President Chirac would face far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the runoff, said the result if confirmed was“a thunderbolt” and “a very worrying sign for France and our democracy.” “I assume responsibility for this defeat fully and I will draw the conclusion by retiring from politics after the end of the presidential election,” he said. He urged his party to start preparing for the parliamentary elections in June.
I was wondering when someone from France was going to surrender.
Geez, even a French Socialist loser understands defeat better than algore.
Well said - VERY well said!
Man! I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
I stole that quote ya know.
5.56mm
Gee, the Socialists/Communists react exactly the same in France as they did in Florida. At least they're consistant.
I truly know very very very little about French politics, but I do know Socialists are adherents to a system that hates freedom and liberty. I am glad to see them defeated.
I don't know that much about Le Pen, although it's quite obvious that the Left hates and fears him. I'm sure Chirac will trounce him in the runoff, and it's quite possible that the Left will turn out in greater numbers than usual in order to assure that.
This does put the immigration issue front and center of French politics, though, and it's going to force a debate on things the Left has been content to ignore for a generation. That is a positive, as is Chirac's now-certain re-election.
It's a safe bet Le Pen will try and goad them to riot or even engage in terrorist acts so as to increase his popularity and vindicate his position. While he has no chance of winning the presidency he can drive the political agenda in his direction and force Chirac to denounce those he now seeks to woo IF the Arabs and hard left go nuts over being shut out of the runoff.
You gotta admit, this Le Pen fellow has some filberts. Many Europeans are starting to wake up to the ugly realities of immigration out of control. When is the U.S. gonna wake up?
The Indians didn't realize it either until they were up to their headbands in white folks.
Adams, Henry. The Great Secession Winter, 1860-1861. pub. in Proceedings, Mass. Historical Soc.: 1909-10.
Enjoy the ride down, Llan-ey!!!
It seems to me that the country just punished the Left, dude.
Indeed. That was a statement worthy of, say, Rob Reiner. Do you suppose these morons will urge the leftists to establish an "administration in exile", as they did here during the Great Gore Denial of 2000? I fart in their general direction.
How about having Helen apply for a job as a Tazmanian Devil Litterbox Scooper?
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