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|OT| French Presidential election - 2012 edition

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M

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Computer said:
Isn't that contradictory to what is reported in Libération? I'm not sure what Hollande's logic is.

Edit: Oh, I think I get it, sort of.
Click to expand...
The difference in their stances is pretty obvious Comp.

Sarkozy : I'm going to get their votes by catering to the themes the FN used in the campaign.
Hollande : I'm going to bring back those voters into the republican fold by sticking to my themes and showing FN is wrong headed.
 
D

daffy

Banned
:lol at May Day rally. Sarkozy's goose is cooked. Out of the two boners we're stuck with, he is easily the hardest right now.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Mistouze said:
The difference in their stances is pretty obvious Comp.

Sarkozy : I'm going to get their votes by catering to the themes the FN used in the campaign.
Hollande : I'm going to bring back those voters into the republican fold by sticking to my themes and showing FN is wrong headed.
Click to expand...
Fair enough.


Meadows said:
Is Sarkozy pretty much fucked then? Seems like there's no way back for him.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be surprised if the results are very close.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
G.O.O. said:
Fuck, I need to do something about my English. Typing my previous posts took way too long.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way about my French. I'm fluent and no problem reading newspaper or academic articles in French, but it takes me an eon to try to write my own French, and all of my noun genders are either wrong or need to be looked up.
 
M

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Stumpokapow said:
I feel the same way about my French. I'm fluent and no problem reading newspaper or academic articles in French, but it takes me an eon to try to write my own French, and all of my noun genders are either wrong or need to be looked up.
Click to expand...
Stumpokapow trying to make us feel dumb because we're complaining about english as french is way harder. Damn you!

Don't you love our accents? :D
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
Mistouze said:
I feel you. Posting goofy responses is easy, trying to articulate you thoughts in another language can get mind crushing.
Click to expand...
Yep. Neogaf is still my main source of inspiration for written English, but the funny pics thread is more interesting than the ones about the US campaign.

Meadows said:
Is Sarkozy pretty much fucked then? Seems like there's no way back for him.
Click to expand...
http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId=749535

and French and Euro press aren't very optimistic. To quote a guy from the CSA poll intitute : "there is no indicator of a victory for Sarkozy"
 
M

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Sarkozy crawled back from the pit Jacques Chirac put him along with Balladur, I won't consider he's defeated before the results are in.
 
D

daffy

Banned
Le Pen probably biggest reason he's not leading right now. But now we get to watch his descent into madness for a few days.

it'll be closer than 2007 . I have little doubt that if kozy would dialed it back awhile ago, instead of punching it forward, he would probably be in the lead. Hollande is one of the weakest nom noms.
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
I feel the same way about my French. I'm fluent and no problem reading newspaper or academic articles in French, but it takes me an eon to try to write my own French, and all of my noun genders are either wrong or need to be looked up.
Click to expand...
Congratulations, you might have the same level of French as some of our literary students.

Sarkozy crawled back from the pit Jacques Chirac put him along with Balladur, I won't consider he's defeated before the results are in.
Click to expand...
He did... but honestly.

We were told he was an amazing campaigner. He kept saying that everything was going on according to his plan. He couldn't even be first on 1st round and his voters left him en masse for the FN.

He won in 2007 and lost every election ever since, and now his hopes rely on far-right voters who aren't even enough to save him and the possibility of having 3 debates to use Hollande as a punching-ball.

He still can win, yes. But at this point that'll take luck more than talent.
 
M

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Flying_Phoenix said:
So is this accurate about Le Pen voters.
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They're not racist but yada yada yada yada yada.

But seriously I'll only feel confortable calling racist the core electorate of the FN which should be about 10~15% of the voters. In a country with more than 150 years of immigration it is fucking sad.
 
F

Flying_Phoenix

Banned
Mistouze said:
They're not racist but yada yada yada yada yada.

But seriously I'll only feel confortable calling racist the core electorate of the FN which should be about 10~15% of the voters. In a country with more than 150 years of immigration it is fucking sad.
Click to expand...

America was a country that was founded on immigration, was built on it, and thrived. And still we are currently the most right wing modern country. You Europeans are just starting to get used to "brown people" coming in your border.

You guys are so fucked.


daffy said:
for any english speakers with a passing interest of the election, this is one of the best youtube channels for coverage.

france24english
Click to expand...


Thanks.
 
B

Bossun

Member
My mother was shocked to hear Sarkozy speaking, once again, of voluntary service.

It was about professors and schools teachers, in response to how there is not enough of them. He said it could be taken care of if more people agreed to work on voluntary service...
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
RikUT.jpg


François Hollande and austerity
Leader of the axis of growth?

Apr 25th 2012, 18:32 by S.P. | PARIS

FRANÇOIS HOLLANDE was on remarkably good form this afternoon at a press conference in Paris. He has made such an effort recently to appear solemn and presidential that it is almost a surprise to find him back to cracking jokes.

The main subject of his good humour, besides the continuing favourable second-round opinion polls, was a comment made this morning by Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank. Mr Draghi suggested that he would be in favour of a “growth pact”. The news has been all over the French media today. For Mr Hollande, a week-and-a-half before the run-off on May 6th, this was too good to be true. And it probably is.

Mr Hollande has been campaigning for months on the idea that, if elected, he will “renegotiate” the German-backed fiscal pact for the euro, which emphasises fiscal austerity. He says his first trip as president will be to Berlin, where he will tell Angela Merkel not only that he wants more emphasis on growth, but that he will block ratification of the (signed) treaty if he doesn’t get his way.

This afternoon, Mr Hollande laid his policy out more clearly. He was still in favour of budgetary discipline, he said. But this needed to be balanced with growth-supporting measures. These could be dealt with in a recast treaty—or as part of a new growth pact to “complement” the fiscal one.

He has a four-point plan: to create European “project bonds” to finance growth-stimulating infrastructure and energy projects; to reinforce investment by the European Investment Bank; to introduce a financial-transaction tax among willing European countries; and to use structural funds more efficiently.

Until now Mr Hollande has sounded like a voice in the wilderness. Nicolas Sarkozy’s people have mocked what they see as his grossly inflated sense of his own potential bargaining power. “It’s completely out of the question to renegotiate the treaty,” one of the Sarkozy team told me a few weeks ago. “He’s getting everybody’s backs up with this idea.”

Take Mr Draghi’s comments, however, combine them with growing voices within Europe for less austerity and more growth (see Spain and Italy) and throw in similar views in the United States and at the IMF, and suddenly Mr Hollande no longer looks like an outlier but like a leader who has anticipated the changing mood. No wonder he was looking so chuffed today.

The catch is this: when Mr Hollande talks about growth-supporting measures, does he mean the same thing as everybody else? His plans are not to adapt the rate of fiscal tightening to economic conditions, or to balance structural reform with a boost to demand. They are mainly to borrow and spend more at a European level. And that is presumably not what leaders like Mario Monti or Mr Draghi have in mind.
Click to expand...
http://www.economist.com/blogs/elysee/2012/04/françois-hollande-and-austerity
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
If I understand correctly, they're OK for the part about growth but fear that it might discourage other countries to cut spendings ?

Also

tumblr_ly1oldzsfa1r9z4kdo1_400.gif
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Hollande calls limiting economic immigration 'essential'

France's Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande said Friday that limiting illegal immigration during an economic crisis was "essential". Immigration has been a key issue since the far right’s strong showing in the election’s first round.
By News Wires (text)

AFP - French presidential frontrunner Socialist Francois Hollande said Friday it was vital to limit economic immigration in a time of crisis.

"In the period of crisis we are going through, limiting economic immigration is necessary and essential," Hollande told RTL radio.

"I also want to fight illegal immigration on the economic front. It is not right that a certain number of employers, in a cynical way, are hiring illegal migrants," he said.

Hollande reiterated his vow to ask parliament to fix the number of immigrants allowed into France every year.

"I don't think there will ever be zero immigration, there will always be legal immigration. Can we reduce the number? That's a debate," he said.

He added however that he was against reducing the number of foreign students allowed into France to study.

"I think that the presence of foreign students in our faculties is an opportunity, not just for the foreign students but for us," he said.

Immigration has become a key issue in the campaign for the second round of France's presidential election on May 6 after far right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front came third in Sunday's first round with 18 percent.

Incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy has shifted further to the right since the first round, vowing to "defend the French way of life", reduce immigration and secure France's borders.
Click to expand...
http://www.france24.com/en/20120427...de-rtl-france-socialist-presidential-election

Now even the left are playing that game. That's when you realize Le Pen has actually won.
 
J

Jubern

Member
Yup. I was back at my folks place for two weeks, in Bretagne. And holy shieeeet did I hear things I thought I'd never hear from some people pretty close to me.

Ironically, MLP did fucking poorly where I'm from, but I can see how she managed to get all those voters.
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
Yeah, it's like immigration has been widely accepted as a bad thing. My gf even tried to show papers with data to her mom, to which she replied that it was biased.
 
S

Souldriver

Member
How is that Sarkozy cover more sensationalist than, say, the economist cover you posted earlier?

A lot of press do big stories with one big picture and one big title on the cover. As someone who doesn't know the biases of any of the magazines you've posted, I honestly wouldn't give a second thought to any of them as biased (even if they are).
 
K

Kurtofan

Member
It's not even that sensationalist, it poses a good question about the future of the right in France, are they going to down total populism like Sarko is doing or is the republican right going to wake up and fight against the far right?
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
G.O.O. said:
Libé is a left-wing newspaper. The question is how they'll be once Hollande is in charge.
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Once Hollande is in charge, he won't be able to put his program into effect so I expect him to do the policy of the right with the votes of the left. But since the President everyone hates will be gone, newspapers won't say shit and no one will bother protest in the streets anymore.

Kind of like Obama when he replaced Bush as POTUS.

As for The Economist's front page, it's factual, not sensationalist. I don't see what's wrong in saying that François Hollande is rather dangerous.
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
But since the President everyone hates will be gone, newspapers won't say shit and no one will bother protest in the streets anymore.
Click to expand...
Would you bet on it ?

I don't see Hollande as another hyperprésident, so him being less hated makes sense.

As for the economist, Sapin is right when he says they're anti-French. Also, this

0909_Economist_inside.jpg
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Calling The Economist 'anti-French' is preposterous and sectarian but hey, it's the left. They still believe the whole world envies our public finance and subsidized industry.


Kurtofan said:
How is he dangerous exactly?
Click to expand...
He's going to ruin the economy even faster than Sarkozy will.
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
Calling him "dangerous" was a joke.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/elysee/2012/04/french-reaction-our-cover

I would also point out to French readers that, as far as I know (these things get decided in London), the reason that the editor chose to put the word "dangerous" on the cover was as a humorous clin d’oeil at the first words that Mr Hollande pronounced when he turned up in London on the campaign trail: “I am not dangerous”.

Our leader gives Mr Hollande credit where it is due, stating:
“With a Socialist president, France would get one big thing right. Mr Hollande opposes the harsh German-enforced fiscal tightening which is strangling the euro zone’s chances of recovery.”
Click to expand...
And then :

It goes on to argue that the danger is not that Mr Hollande is pushing a growth agenda in Europe, which The Economist has also called for. It is rather that:
“…unlike, say, Italy’s Mario Monti, Mr Hollande’s objection to the compact is not just about such macroeconomic niceties as the pace of fiscal tightening. It is chiefly resistance to change and a determination to preserve the French social model at all costs. Mr Hollande is not suggesting slower fiscal adjustment to smooth the path of reform.”
Click to expand...
So they do have a problem with what we're doing. Whether it is true or not, it's clear that they have a stance.
 
S

Souldriver

Member
Computer said:
Once Hollande is in charge, he won't be able to put his program into effect so I expect him to do the policy of the right with the votes of the left. But since the President everyone hates will be gone, newspapers won't say shit and no one will bother protest in the streets anymore.

Kind of like Obama when he replaced Bush as POTUS.

As for The Economist's front page, it's factual, not sensationalist. I don't see what's wrong in saying that François Hollande is rather dangerous.
Click to expand...

I think you're showing more bias than the newspapers do.
 
S

sflufan

Banned
People need to realize that The Economist is just plain "cheeky" and not anti-anybody.

Hell, they pissed-off the Scots a couple of weeks ago too!
 
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