Kurtofan said:

"Amazing" as in "it's amazing nobody kicked his ass yet"?

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Mistouze said:

The Hervé Morin news is SURPRISING!

Nice find Computer on the VGE slogan!

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Mael said:

You actually expected him to run? Like really?

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Mael said:

You actually expected him to run? Like really?

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G.O.O. said:

I did, but run for what ?

The Times has the Murdoch touch, so all in all it's not that surprising. On the other hand, the French press seem to be pretty harsh on yesterday's interview. Was it that bad ?

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Mistouze said:

With what? 0.5% in the polls, yes I actually expected him to run. lol.

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Mael said:

You actually expected him to run? Like really?

I'm more surprised that Segolene Royal didn't decide to go all alone this time

Spoiler

again

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G.O.O. said:

I did, but run for what ?

The Times has the Murdoch touch, so all in all it's not that surprising. On the other hand, the French press seem to be pretty harsh on yesterday's interview. Was it that bad ?

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Mael said:

Didn't stop Eva Joly....

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Computer said:

She still hasn't got over her third place in the primary election.


Sarkozy didn't seem convinced in the slightest. To me it's like he's running because he can, because he has nothing else to do and he doesn't want to lose power, but he has no actual program or coherent plan for the future, he just repeated the same vague formulae about "values" over and over again and tried to look like the one who will protect France and the people who suffer.

I don't say that just because I don't like him in general, he really looked this clueless. I can't think of any other candidate who's less convinced and convincing (from Hollande to Le Pen the minor candidates like Philippe Poutou or Nicolas Dupont-Aignan).

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Mistouze said:

Not the same situation, Sarkozy has been working on that fringe of the center for some time. Once he got Borloo down, the rest was bound to happen. The ecologist can't even seem to agree with one another most of the time so I'm not seeing them stand down for anyone.

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Mael said:

I would disagree with that, I mean looking at Joly it's pretty clear she doesn't a shit AT ALL.

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Computer said:

I was editing my post to say the same thing, precisely, but I was too slow

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They even manage to burn out the most likable and electable candidate they had!
It's hillarious how bad they are at politic.

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Sotha Sil said:

Gang sign?

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Villepin : Sarkozy est "parti du mauvais pied"

Dominique de Villepin, candidat de République solidaire à l'Elysée, a estimé jeudi que Nicolas Sarkozy était "parti du mauvais pied" estimant qu'il y avait "quelque chose de résigné" dans

sa déclaration de candidature. Mercredi soir sur TF1, "ce que nous avons vu, c'est un président qui se résigne à rester à son poste. Pourquoi? Parce que le bateau coule? C'est pas ça qu'on attend d'un capitaine", a déclaré M. de Villepin sur France 2. "On attend d'un capitaine qu'il mobilise les Français, qu'il mobilise son équipage, qu'il soit capable de défendre une vision, qu'il soit capable de fixer un cap. Je n'ai pas vu cette énergie-là", a-t-il ajouté. "Il reste évidemment le temps de la campagne, nous verrons avec quelle équipe il entend travailler, avec quels hommes, quelles femmes et surtout nous verrons quel souffle, quelle est la capacité qu'il a à réinventer la politique", a poursuivi l'ancien Premier ministre.

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Computer said:

G.O.O., lafranceforte.fr has the entire transcript of Sarkozy's interview, if you don't feel like watching the actual thing: http://lafranceforte.fr/la-campagne/pourquoi-je-suis-candidat

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Lach said:

I thought it was about the hands at first, but it's about his open zipper.

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Computer said:

I'm just leaving this here:

[IMG ]http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/sites/default/files/hollande.jpg[/IMG]

Source: http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/ar...-de-francois-hollande-la-braguette-ouverte.ht

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G.O.O. said:

I'm starting to have solid doubts about his willing to get re-elected. It's like he has to play the game because his side has no other choice than him but he's just not into it.

Tax raises ? Social TVA ? Hardcore right-wing declarations no moderate would ever agree with ? Getting help from Merkel ? And now use the very same slogan that is tied to Giscard's failure against Mitterrand ?

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G.O.O. said:

Losing 3 weeks of campaign for a debate on nuclear energy in the middle of an economic crisis

fuck yeah

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Mael said:

You could say that someone is going to get fired for this...
OTOH if Sarkozy fails this year you can be pretty sure that the UMP will explode, will it be worse than what PS endured when Jospin decided to send his parti to hell in the middle of a campain or not IDK.

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Kurtofan said:

Just for this I want Sarkozy to lose.Anything to fuck the UMP.

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Mael said:

3 years ago would have said that but it seems that there's more competent UMP deputes than PS.
Heck there were 3 deputes that were really against HADOPI and I really don't want to have Tardy replaced by a PS mouthbreather like Peillon or that crappy Hamon.
I'd rather keep Tardy and the likes thank you very much.
Cope can go eat a dick though

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On 14 July 2011, Lionel Tardy told the Green Party candidate to the presidential election Eva Joly, who has the French and Norwegian double nationality, to go back to Norway

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Kurtofan said:

Great guy

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G.O.O. said:

Tardy is good but the party as it is now is pulling him down. As long as the UMP keeps its "follow the leader" culture it will be the same.

They need to get their ass kicked. The party explodes, some of them join the FN, the cocksuckers follow Copé and maybe the few talented will gather around a good center-right party. A new political class emerges, elders take their retirement, everyone wins.

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Mael said:

source?

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G.O.O. said:

He tweeted it.

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Mael said:

What we don't need is clearly not more people following the thieves of the name of a great resistent movement.

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G.O.O. said:

Too many negatives ?

The left already died several times but could never rebuild itself around a coherent ideology, the main reason being that they needed to prove they were united against the right.

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G.O.O. said:

It's pretty much the same here. Left should join Mélenchon, good ones and economists keep the party and Valls goes UMP.

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G.O.O. said:

About Joly, I think the ecologists already proposed the same thing before she was candidate. Her accent is causing her far more trouble than what she'd deserve.

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They couldn't rebuild around a coherent ideology because they don't have one

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I HATE Rachida Daty and what she did but I'm ok with her being a proeminent politician.

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G.O.O. said:

Errr... why ?

To me she's typically the silver spoon prototype politician. :/

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G.O.O. said:

They don't have *one*. They have several.

The cold war logic is a consensual thing, that's why we keep hearing it => it keeps the party in one piece.

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G.O.O. said:

Errr... why ?

To me she's typically the silver spoon prototype politician. :/

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Mistouze said:

I wouldn't say silver spooned. More of an incompetent person with lots of ambition, only reason she became prominent is the fact that she's a woman coming from the immigration. Her only chance for a political future after a loss of Sarkozy is JF Copé.

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Mael said:

I always laugh when rich guy like Hollande try to say he understand the plight of people with little income or when he says he hates rich people.
I don't think he's stupid enough to think we believe him there.

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G.O.O. said:

I disagree. Being rich means that you may not know what it's like to live as a poor man but you can still take their side and be sincere about it.

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Original said:

Proposition n°1 : un statut de société créatrice de logiciels

Proposition n°2 : une formation « entreprendre dans le logiciel »

Proposition n°3 : un guichet unique « croissance et innovation »

Proposition n°4 : une filière de formation aux métiers du logiciel

Proposition n°5 : des écosystèmes du logiciel

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Quick Translation said:

1- New status for software making companies

2- special formation for "job creators for software companies"

3- Basically a way to get help for software companies

4- special field for software related studies (now it's a subfield of mathematics)

5- basically sort of a union for software companies.

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Sarkozy brands Socialist rival a 'liar' at campaign rally

By News Wires the 16/02/2012 - 21:05

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his main rival for the presidency, Socialist François Hollande, "lies from morning to night" at his first re-election campaign rally Thursday. Sarkozy lags behind Hollande in polls ahead of the April 22 vote.
AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy used his first re-election campaign rally Thursday to launch a blistering attack on his frontrunning Socialist rival, calling him an inveterate liar.

Francois Hollande "lies from morning to night," Sarkozy told cheering supporters at the Alpine town of Annecy, the day after officially declaring his candidacy for the election in 10 weeks.

"When you tell the English press that you are pro-market (economically liberal) and when you come to explain to the French that finance is the enemy, you are lying, you are lying from morning to night!," he said.

The president was referring to an interview in The Guardian published Monday in which the Socialist favourite said he wanted to reassure the City of London that it need not worry about his plans to regulate the financial world.

Hollande said in his first campaign rally late last month that the "enemy" was "the world of finance."

Polls consistently show Hollande as the clear frontrunner and, with less than 10 weeks to go until the first round of voting on April 22, the election is shaping up to be a classic two-horse race between right and left.

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Computer said:

http://www.france24.com/en/20120216...-annecy-hollande-france-presidential-election

Says the guy who ignored France's NO to the European Constitution and who now says 'I'll ask what the French want thanks to more referendums'.

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How is Sarkozy viewed around the world?


Following French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s announcement that he will run for re-election, we asked our Observers around the world what they think of France’s foreign policy over the past five years. Here are their answers.

"Sarkozy has done nothing for the Syrian people"

SYRIA

Omar Shakir is a Syrian activist. He lives in the restive city of Homs, which has suffered intense bombardments from Bashar al-Assad’s army.

I hope Nicolas Sarkozy loses the election. He has done nothing for the Syrian people except talk. I don’t know why he chose to help Libya but not Syria. The situation here is very serious. We need the international community to establish at least one no-fly zone in order to bring an end to the bombardments.

The people here had high expectations of France. We are grateful for what France did in Syria when the country was under French administration [Editor’s note: Syria was under French mandate from 1920 to 1946]. The French developed our infrastructures and our economy…But now it seems that they’re not interested in us. We no longer have any faith in Sarkozy.”

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"Sarkozy helped our people overcome 42 years of tyranny"

LIBYA

Hamid Ahmed lives in Tripoli, Libya.

Libyans are very grateful to France, which supported our fight for freedom from the very beginning.

We really appreciated the steps taken by Mr. Sarkozy who was the first president to recognise the legitimacy of our National Transitional Council (CNT). Other countries soon followed France’s example and recognized the CNT as the sole representative body of the Libyan people, and that is what pulled the rug from under (Muammar) Gaddafi’s feet.

Libyans will remember Sarkozy’s France as the country which helped us overcome 42 years of tyranny and dictatorship, and helped us create a democracy. In June we are going to hold elections for the first time since 1952. I’m really looking forward to voting for the first time…”

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"France is really helping us to rebuild our country"

AFGHANISTAN

Yunos Bakhshi is an astronomer who lives in Kabul.

In the eyes of Afghans, France – as good a country under Sarkozy as it was under Chirac – has a good reputation, especially compared to the British or the Americans. This is because the French who are in Afghanistan are really working to rebuild our country, from the education system to irrigation projects in rural areas. Afghans believe that the French don’t interfere in our internal affairs as much as other members of the international community.

The death of four French soldiers last month was a horrible tragedy, and I hope that this will not affect the French presence in Afghanistan. It would be a shame if the next president decided to recall French troops earlier than planned. They are playing an important role in the development of our country. Even if some people complain about the presence of foreign troops, everybody knows that life could be more difficult when they leave.”

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"Greeks think that Sarkozy has become Angela Merkel’s lapdog"

GREECE

Pol Bouratsis is a student living in Athens. He has taken part in several demonstrations against the austerity measures.

In Greece, people think that Nicolas Sarkozy has become the lapdog of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and that he agrees with her on all matters concerning Europe. And the Greeks have turned against Germany. We feel that we are shot down at every opportunity.

Presidential candidate François Hollande seems to be defending Greece in his speeches but it remains to be seen whether he will really defend us. I feel that this is primarily a communication strategy because, unfortunately, France does not play a particularly important part in this story. If he replaces Sarkozy, François Hollande might be able to help us a little but, at the end of the day, it’s the big banks and financial institutions who will decide our fate.”

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"Sarkozy’s France has been too paternalistic"

IVORY COAST

Israël Yoroba Guebo is a journalist and blogger. He leaves in Abidjan.

At the beginning of his mandate, Nicholas Sarkozy talked about a ‘rupture’ in relations between France and Africa. He said that African countries must stop being France’s subordinates and become its partners. But in light of what has happened, I don’t think this break was made during his time in office. France’s involvement in the outcome of the election crisis in Ivory Coast was, in my opinion, too paternalistic.

I think France should have tried to bring the two different camps together [Editor’s note: the former president Laurent Gbagbo and the new president Alassane Ouattara], and acted as a mediator, instead of taking sides. France should have let international and African organisations solve the problem of military intervention. Ivorians are very divided over Sarkozy: those who support the current government say that Nicolas Sarkozy is the best thing that has happened to Ivory Coast; those who supported Laurent Gbagbo say he’s the worst…

Whether Sarkozy remains in office or not, I hope that the next president of France will work towards a political and economic partnership between two equals, not between dominant and dominated.”

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"He turned a blind eye throughout the Tunisian revolution"

TUNISIA

Youssef Fayla Cherif is a blogger who lives in Tunis.

When I hear the name ‘Sarkozy’, I instantly think of the images of him shaking hands with Ben Ali [Editor’s note: the former president of Tunisia who was forced to step down in January 2011 due to popular protests]. Nicolas Sarkozy always turned a blind eye and said that everything was fine in Tunisia, right up to the end. His government even offered to send armed forces to help crush our revolution. So now many Tunisians abhor anything related to Sarkozy.

Obviously, the French government has had to change sides since the revolution and relations between our countries are now more or less normal. But the reaction of Sarkozy’s government to the success of the Islamist party Ennahda in the elections shocked many Tunisians. French leaders accused Ennahda of having bad intentions, simply because it’s an Islamist party. Compared to Ben Ali’s regime, it’s much better. I can’t imagine our new government turning into a dictatorship.

Ideally, we’d like to see a new head of state in France so that we can build a new relationship between our two countries.”

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"He’s perceived as weak and indecisive"

CHINA

Sui is a student and lives in China.

“In my opinion, Nicholas Sarkozy is simply bad at foreign policy. During the Tibetan unrest in 2008, many foreign leaders criticized the Chinese government. But China attacked France in particular for having supported the Dalai Lama’s “clique”. Across the country, young Chinese people boycotted the outlets of French supermarket Carrefour. Then Sarkozy tried to apologize by sending one of his representatives to China, but this just made him seem weak and indecisive.If Sarkozy is re-elected, he must learn how to strike a balance between his criticisms and French interests.

However, I appreciate the fact that he is critical. China has a lot of problems and its policies deserve to be called into question. It’s just about knowing how to be strategic in order to avoid reprisals.”

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CAMPAIGN CHRONICLES

'La France forte'

Nicolas Sarkozy has launched his re-election campaign - but what's his strategy, how does his team hope to win reluctant voters back, and what are the chances of it working?

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Nicolas Sarkozy parle d'obligation morale pour sa candidature
Par Yann Le Guernigou | Reuters – il y a 2 heures 49 minutes

ANNECY, Haute-Savoie (Reuters) - Nicolas Sarkozy a déclaré jeudi que sa candidature à un second mandat relevait d'une obligation morale, pour éviter que les réformes mises en oeuvre depuis cinq ans ne soient remises en cause avec pour conséquence un affaiblissement de la France.
Pour son premier meeting de campagne au lendemain de l'officialisation de cette candidature, le président sortant a adopté un ton résolument offensif contre son principal rival, le socialiste François Hollande, accusé de mentir "matin et soir".
S'il a reconnu avoir commis des erreurs depuis qu'il est à l'Elysée, il a assuré dans le même temps qu'il s'était "toujours efforcé d'être juste, d'être sincère, de donner tout" ce qu'il pouvait.
"J'aurais pu m'en tenir là, me libérer de cette lourde tâche et en libérer ceux que j'aime, car si j'ai eu toute ma vie le goût d'agir, je n'ai jamais eu le goût du pouvoir", a-t-il dit devant quelque 4.000 personnes réunies dans la salle de conférence Arcadium d'Annecy.
"Mais je ne me suis pas senti quitte de la confiance qui m'a été faite", a-t-il aussitôt ajouté, en faisant valoir que bien des réformes mises en oeuvre sous son quinquennat "n'ont pas eu encore les résultats escomptés" pour permettre aux Français d'être mieux armés pour traverser la crise actuelle.
Nicolas Sarkozy a invoqué la perspective d'un retour victorieux "des vieux démons de l'idéologie qui nous ont coûtés si cher dans le passé", à savoir les 35 heures et la retraite à 60 ans mises en oeuvre par les socialistes, comme principale motivation de sa décision de rempiler.
"Lorsque j'ai compris que tous les efforts que les Français avaient accepté de faire depuis cinq ans risquaient de ne servir à rien si, au lendemain des élections les postures idéologiques devaient à nouveau triompher (...), j'ai jugé que je ne pouvais pas rester les bras croisés. Je devais être candidat."
"Il n'était moralement pas possible que je reste silencieux".
REGIME DES PARTIS
A partir de là, il a lancé sa charge contre François Hollande, accusé de vouloir affaiblir la France en remettant en cause la réforme des retraites ou le quotient familial.
Il a reproché en termes très vifs au candidat socialiste, qui caracole en tête dans les intentions de vote, d'avoir atténué dans le quotidien britannique The Guardian le réquisitoire contre la finance prononcé lors de son meeting du Bourget, déclarant :
"Quand on dit à la presse anglaise qu'on est libéral et quand on vient expliquer aux Français que l'ennemi c'est la finance on ment, on ment matin et soir et ce mensonge n'est pas à l'honneur de celui qui le professe."
Nicolas Sarkozy est par ailleurs revenu sur ses propositions de référendum sur le droit à la formation des chômeurs et le contrôle de l'immigration, pour se défendre des accusations de populisme qu'elles ont suscitées.
"Cela a eu un écho très sensible aux oreilles de ceux qui se sont toujours méfiés du peuple", a-t-il dit. "Ce sont les mêmes qui ont crié à la forfaiture lorsque le général de Gaulle a instauré l'élection du président de la République au suffrage universel."
Revendiquant l'héritage du fondateur de la Ve République, il a déclaré qu'il s'agissait de mettre fin à une situation où "les corps intermédiaires font écran entre le peuple et le gouvernement", alors que certains "rêvent encore de revenir à la IVe République et au régime des partis".
Il en veut pour exemple la "négociation tellement rafraîchissante" de l'accord électoral entre les Verts et les socialistes à propos du nucléaire, qui prévoit de ramener la part de cette énergie dans la production d'électricité de 74% à 50%, et la fermeture de la centrale de Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin), où Nicolas Sarkozy s'est rendu la semaine passée.
"Et le peuple là-dedans. Et les ouvriers de Fessenheim ? (...) Les partis qui s'arrangent entre eux, les petites combinaisons, c'est quand même plus simple, et puis entre gens du même monde avec les mêmes intérêts on se comprend très bien. Alors forcément, le référendum on l'aime pas !".

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Computer said:

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/nicolas-sarkozy-parle-dobligation-morale-pour-sa-candidature-201354814.html

Holy shit he's got some nerve.

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FRANCE 2012

Presidential Election: Sarkozy rolls the dice

The suspense - if there in fact was one - is now officially over. Nicolas Sarkozy wants to be president again. He officially told the French people on Wednesday night on primetime TV. Can he pull it off despite record-low polls? He certainly thinks so. We ask our two guests if they share his optimism.

On the set:

Jacques MYARD, MP for the ruling conservative UMP party;
Jerôme GUEDJ, Member of the national bureau of the Socialist party; Head of the Essonne region near Paris.

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DEBATE

Sarkozy the candidate

In his first campaign speech, Nicolas Sarkozy comes out swinging: he brands his main rival an inveterate liar and suggests referendums to crack down on perceived unemployment slackers and illegal immigrants.

Guests:

Benjamin LANCAR, Chairman, UMP youth league (from Annecy, France);
Axelle LEMAIRE, Socialist candidate for parliament, French abroad, Northern Europe district (from London);
Marc PERELMAN, France 24 Politics Editor;
Sofia BOURATSIS, Journalist;
Evelyne JOSLAIN, Member of the British Conservatives

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G.O.O. said:

Heh, meanwhile the NPA claims having 438 without getting even 2% in the polls.

Any chance the CC could do anything before the election ? (I really hope not)

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