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[Mistouze]

Apparently he didn't get them , only 489.

And what about Cindy Lee? Not seeing any recent news on the net.

 

[SomeDude]

Is france very americanized at this point?

 

[ComputerMKII]

What does this even mean?

 

[ComputerMKII]

Sarkozy gains in polls against Socialist front-runner

As a deadline passed for French presidential hopefuls to qualify for candidacy on Friday, incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy was closing in on Socialist front-runner François Hollande, who also faces a challenge from leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
By News Wires (text)

AFP - With just over a month to go Friday before the first round of France's presidential vote, right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy is closing the gap with Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande.

As polls showed Sarkozy cutting his rival's lead after several weeks of campaigning and a swerve to the right, Hollande was also facing a new threat on his left flank from firebrand Left Front candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.

GOODBYE CARLA?

FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012
Who will be France’s next first lady, or gentleman?
The campaign moved into a new phase Friday after a deadline passed for would-be candidates to hand in the 500 signatures from local mayors and other elected officials that they need to be registered to run.

The key players were all expected to reach the target but some fringe candidates, including conservative former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, failed to make the cut.

The signatures are to be verified over the weekend and the official list of candidates is to be published Monday.

Keen to regain momentum, Hollande has made a series of promises aimed at cementing his left-wing credentials.

"I have a vision of France founded on equality, which does not distinguish between people, where all citizens can play a full role and where no one is set aside," he said in a speech in the northeastern city of Strasbourg.

He announced a series of measures aimed at helping poor French suburbs, including obligatory placements for trainee doctors in suburban areas and tax breaks for businesses that hire suburban youth.

Hollande also promised to create a "ministry for regional equality", to peg fees for public transport to incomes and to boost taxes on vacant properties.

On Thursday, during a three-hour appearance on France 2 public television, he also vowed to boost taxes on the rich and to not back down on his plan for a 75 percent tax rate on incomes above one million euros ($1.3 million)

Sarkozy, an experienced and aggressive campaigner, has stepped up his attacks and moved to consolidate his hold on the right with vows to be tough on immigration and threats to pull France from Europe's visa-free zone.

An opinion poll this week for the first time showed Sarkozy pulling slightly ahead of Hollande and the latest survey, an OpinionWay-Fiducial study released Friday, showed them equal with 27.5 percent support in the first round to be held on April 22.

The same poll showed Hollande still winning the second round on May 6 with 55 percent.

Campaigning in the city of Meaux near Paris, Sarkozy rallied a crowd of 2,000 supporters Friday, casting the Socialists as an out-of-touch elite and urging the "silent majority" to back his campaign.

"In the two months that remain, the victory, the result, will depend on you, as never before in the political history of our country," he said.

Hollande is also facing a new challenge from Melenchon, who represents a left-wing coalition including the Communists and has enjoyed a recent bump in the polls.

Melenchon surpassed the symbolic 10 percent mark in polls last week with virulent attacks on the financial world and European austerity policies.

The Left Front is expected to pick up more momentum from a major campaign rally on Sunday, with tens of thousands set to take to the streets of Paris in support of Melenchon.

Sarkozy meanwhile may get a slight boost Friday from the withdrawal from the race of Villepin, a right-wing rival who said he had not been able to obtain the 500 signatures required to run.

Villepin, a suave diplomat best remembered for leading the charge against the Iraq war at the United Nations in 2003, had hoped to draw some right-wing support away from long-time rival Sarkozy.

But he proved to be a non-factor in the campaign, with recent polls showing him with less than one percent of public support.

Hollande's team said Friday that it had collected between 4,500 and 5,000 signatures for his campaign.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120316...hollande-presidency-france-melenchon-election

 

[speculawyer]

Go Norwegian lady!


OK, she can't win. Go Hollande.

 

[Kurtofan]

The official list of candidate has been revealed by the Constitutional Council:

Eva Joly,
Marine Le Pen,
Nicolas Sarkozy,
Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
Philippe Poutou,
Nathalie Arthaud,
Jacques Cheminade,
François Bayrou,
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan,
François Hollande

 

[ComputerMKII]

The official list of candidate has been revealed by the Constitutional Council:

Eva Joly,
Marine Le Pen,
Nicolas Sarkozy,
Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
Philippe Poutou,
Nathalie Arthaud,
Jacques Cheminade,
François Bayrou,
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan,
François Hollande

What a shit list. This country is doomed.

 

[Kurtofan]

What a shit list. This country is doomed.

Who did you wanted?

 

[ComputerMKII]

Who did you wanted?

There is no perfect candidate, but I could have voted for Alain Madelin.

 

[Jb]

Man, I checked out Cheminade's website just for kicks. His project?

1/ arrêter le césarisme par une mobilisation citoyenne :
2/ nettoyer les écuries d’Augias avec le principe de la loi Glass-Steagall :
3/ équiper l’homme et la nature sous inspiration et contrôle publics :
4/ investir dans la créativité humaine :
5/ créer une alliance de peuples suffisamment forte pour briser le garrot de l’oligarchie

What the fuck is this shit? Who talks like that? What is it even supposed to mean?
It's insane that a guy like him can be an official candidate for the presidential elections. This is going to be such a shit show.

 

[Kurtofan]

Man, I checked out Cheminade's website just for kicks. His project?



What the fuck is this shit? Who talks like that? What is it even supposed to mean?
It's insane that a guy like him can be an official candidate for the presidential elections. This is going to be such a shit show.

Let the old man have his fun.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Let the old man have his fun.

+1.

 

[G.O.O.]

Cheminade : "Mass murders often caused by violent video games"

http://www.francetv.fr/info/live/message/4f6/835/1e1/cc6/f02/fc3/021/ec5.html

Great.

In other news, you may have heard of La Vraie Timeline, a highly-documented website parodying Sarkozy's facebook timeline. Well, the UNI (right-wing student syndicate) answered by creating François Mollande, and of course it's terrible.

And because I'm objective, here are two good sites to remember the very best of the past five years :
http://www.sarkolol.fr/
http://www.50jours.fr/

 

[Mael]

There is no perfect candidate, but I could have voted for Alain Madelin.

Wait...what?

The official list of candidate has been revealed by the Constitutional Council:

Eva Joly,
Marine Le Pen,
Nicolas Sarkozy,
Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
Philippe Poutou,
Nathalie Arthaud,
Jacques Cheminade,
François Bayrou,
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan,
François Hollande

OMG, I think that this time we're FUBAR.

 

[Kurtofan]

Cheminade : "Mass murders often caused by violent video games"

http://www.francetv.fr/info/live/message/4f6/835/1e1/cc6/f02/fc3/021/ec5.html
]

Fuck you Cheminade.

Haha he wants to outlaw video games, what a moron.The guy is stuck in the nineties.

 

[WARCOCK]

Cheminade : "Mass murders often caused by violent video games"

http://www.francetv.fr/info/live/message/4f6/835/1e1/cc6/f02/fc3/021/ec5.html

Great.

In other news, you may have heard of La Vraie Timeline, a highly-documented website parodying Sarkozy's facebook timeline. Well, the UNI (right-wing student syndicate) answered by creating François Mollande, and of course it's terrible.

And because I'm objective, here are two good sites to remember the very best of the past five years :
http://www.sarkolol.fr/
http://www.50jours.fr/

hahah thanks for the links

 

[UnluckyKate]

Fuck you Cheminade.

Haha he wants to outlaw video games, what a moron.The guy is stuck in the nineties.

Same for Manaudou who closed her Twitter after a similar comment yesterday. So much rage went off after that " shut up and swin "

 

[Mistouze]

Cheminade : "Mass murders often caused by violent video games"

To be fair, he says that they are often "associated" to mass murders and denies outright causality. Still stupid though.

 

[Kurtofan]

Same for Manaudou who closed her Twitter after a similar comment yesterday. So much rage went off after that " shut up and swin "

Those comments just dumbfound me, there's not a single trace of video game material even involved in the murders, but it's still the video games' fault.I mean the suspect is shown doing a nazi salute, but nope vidja games did it.
At this point it's some sort of anti video games luddism.

Cheminade talking about it shows how much it's irrelevant, the guy has nothing to say so let's use that well earned speech time to spout bullshit.

 

[Mael]

Fuck you Cheminade.

Haha he wants to outlaw video games, what a moron.The guy is stuck in the nineties.

If he's the same guy I'm thinking, he's a grade A moron.
Basically as electable and coherent as a Ron Paul with equally unapplicable ideas that look good on papers and horrible in practice.
Oh and he thinks that almighty Google gives a shit about him since they associate his name with sects.

Those comments just dumbfound me, there's not a single trace of video game material even involved in the murders, but it's still the video games' fault.I mean the suspect is shown doing a nazi salute, but nope vidja games did it.
At this point it's some sort of anti video games luddism.

Cheminade talking about it shows how much it's irrelevant, the guy has nothing to say so let's use that well earned speech time.

You shouldn't look much into it, I mean I've seen worse from Royale and her bizarre fixation on mangas.

 

[Kafel]

Wow, Bayrou did a meeting last night.

A true rebel.

 

[Kurtofan]

You shouldn't look much into it, I mean I've seen worse from Royale and her bizarre fixation on mangas.

Forgot about that.No wonder I didn't like her!

Wow, Bayrou did a meeting last night.

A true rebel.

I don't see the point of doing a meeting now since nobody is going to talk about it.

 

[G.O.O.]

Familles de France : "our spirit lives on"

Can't wait for the police to find that the murderer owns a megadrive.

 

[Mael]

Wow, Bayrou did a meeting last night.

A true rebel.

Don't mock him too much he's basically the best we've got right now and I don't even want to vote for him.
Oh and I know a teacher who have the child of Poutou in her classroom.

Forgot about that.No wonder I didn't like her!

The worst part is that it's actually an industry that gives a ton of jobs and she wants it shut down for no reasons at all.
She's just insane, I guess we CAN be glad she hasn't won in some way (because I'm now absolutely convinced she'd have done worse).

 

[Kafel]

Don't mock him too much he's basically the best we've got right now

hahaha

oh wow


Why would I want someone useless at the head of France?

 

[Mael]

hahaha

oh wow


Why would I want someone useless at the head of France?

You mean you don't want anyone on the list at the head of France?
Because they're pretty much all equally worthless with some being downright dangerous if they ever get near the chair.

 

[WARCOCK]

You mean you don't want anyone on the list at the head of France?
Because they're pretty much all equally worthless with some being downright dangerous if they ever get near the chair.

Mael, 500 signatures and

 

[Mael]

Mael, 500 signatures and http://randomgif.com/gif/You%20have%20my%20sword.gif[/ IMG][/QUOTE]

lol

I'm pretty much as unelectable as it gets though, since I'm no people person but even then if I don't leave the country I do intend to enter the field starting next year (that way I don't get to enter one of these crappy youth formations).

 

[Kafel]

You mean you don't want anyone on the list at the head of France?
Because they're pretty much all equally worthless with some being downright dangerous if they ever get near the chair.

Sarkozy did just fine IMO. France reacted way better than most European countries during the crisis. The important and efficient decisions have been made.

He only has to cut the crap in speeches around him. But he'll only do this when he'll be elected again because extreme behaviours tend to seem preponderous in troubled times.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Why are we still talking about Cheminade? You just doubled his media coverage for the entire campaign.

 

[Mael]

Sarkozy did just fine IMO. France reacted way better than most European countries during the crisis. The important and efficient decisions have been made.

His handling on the 2008 and after crisis is pretty much the best we could have expected from a French ruler, he even went beyond IMO.
The rest is a little more...mixed.

He only has to cut the crap in speeches around him. But he'll only do this when he'll be elected again because extreme behaviours tend to seem preponderous in troubled times.

He's a formidable politician, I still believe that he can win (with or without my vote, yes the others are so crappy I don't preclude that option). His speeches are indeed stupidly horrible but his policies can be sound although you'd have to have a real short memory to think he'd even do a third of what he offers to do.
And I think that's actually a good thing for him.

His team have proved to be less of a disaster than I believed it would overall.
I think he did better than Chirac that's for sure.

 

[G.O.O.]

Sarkozy did just fine IMO. France reacted way better than most European countries during the crisis. The important and efficient decisions have been made.

http://www.marcvasseur.info/index.p...sarkozy-vu-par-les-organismes-internationaux/

Some of his decisions were truly disastrous. I won't try to predict "what xxx would have done under a crisis" but I really think his management style was one of the worst under the fifth republic. He's obsessed by his ideology, which wouldn't be a problem if he was surrounded by talented people - and if he actually listened to them. But he constantly needs to be the center of everything.

As a president, everything he did was made so that it made him look good. The best article about this is from an economist who supported him in 2007 => http://www.telos-eu.com/fr/article/les-sept-peches-economiques-de-sarkozy

 

[keuja]

You mean you don't want anyone on the list at the head of France?
Because they're pretty much all equally worthless with some being downright dangerous if they ever get near the chair.

My thoughts exactly, it's quite sad.

I contemplated voting for les verts because at least I thought they would do something to protect the environment but then I remembered they wanted to phase out nuclear...

 

[Mistouze]

I agree with you overall, Sarkozy is a political beast and won't go down easily.

His team have proved to be less of a disaster than I believed it would overall.

When you look at the number of ministers prosecuted/condemned by the justice and the ones who are cited in affairs shit gets scary though.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Parlez-vous anglais?
MEDIAWATCH FRANCE, Wed. 14/3/2012: Sarkozy, Hollande and Bayrou: how is their level of English? Does a French President need to speak the language of Shakespeare? We take a look at their efforts, and grade them!

http://www.france24.com/en/20120314-mediawatch-sakorzy-bayrou-hollande-english-language-shakespeare

 

[Kafel]

http://www.marcvasseur.info/index.p...sarkozy-vu-par-les-organismes-internationaux/

Some of his decisions were truly disastrous. I won't try to predict "what xxx would have done under a crisis" but I really think his management style was one of the worst under the fifth republic. He's obsessed by his ideology, which wouldn't be a problem if he was surrounded by talented people - and if he actually listened to them. But he constantly needs to be the center of everything.

As a president, everything he did was made so that it made him look good. The best article about this is from an economist who supported him in 2007 => http://www.telos-eu.com/fr/article/les-sept-peches-economiques-de-sarkozy

I don't give points for style when I vote for my next president. And actually I think his "style" was surprisingly good : it's thanks to this that he put back France on the right tracks. Let all the hatred go on him while the ministers can work without much pressure and get the job done without much damage (ie compromises).

Of course, now his image is atrocious though and it's a problem for the next elections.

As for your links, I'm an economist and I know how relevant (or not) these indexes are. I also know that a marginal move in charts full of very different countries doesn't mean much.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Here's an 18-minute debate:

Presidential Election: Money time for small candidates

The French presidential race is in full swing. Sarkozy versus Hollande is the motto. But there is a second pack of contenders hoping to pull off an upset and get to the second round. One is Marine Le Pen, of course, whose father did it back in 2002. There is also François Bayrou, a centrist leader who scored 18% back in 2007 and, recently joining the group, Jean-Luc Mélenchon from the Leftist Front, a coalition comprising the Communist Party.

On the set:

• Bruno Jeanbart, Director of Polling, Opinion Way;
• Raquel Garrido, International spokesperson, Left Front;
• Stéphane Cossé, President, Modem Paris.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120315...-hollande-polls-small-candidates-second-round

 

[G.O.O.]

I don't give points for style when I vote for my next president. And actually I think his "style" was surprisingly good : it's thanks to this that he put back France on the right tracks. Let all the hatred go on him while the ministers can work without much pressure and get the job done without much damage (ie compromises).

Of course, now his image is atrocious though and it's a problem for the next elections.

As for your links, I'm an economist and I know how relevant (or not) these indexes are. I also know that a marginal move in charts full of very different countries doesn't mean much.

That's not the "style" I meant. I'm not talking about personal style (which is awful aswell but hardly relevant) but about management, governing style. What I meant is that he did compromise - a lot. But also managed to make it look like he acted firm and for the greater good. Which he didn't.

There's a reason why he spends more time attacking Hollande/immigration/halal food/whatever than defending his results, really.

EDIT : talking about style...

Sarkozy to college : "it could have happened here"

http://www.francetv.fr/info/sarkozy-a-des-collegiens-la-tuerie-de-aurait-pu-se-passer-ici_74445.html

 

[Kafel]

Yes the reason is that all results will look bad no matter what during a crisis. But some are less worse than others and it would take time to explain this. And make him look weak while giving the excuses (real excuses).

As for your link I don't know what your point is ? The kids are too young to feel concerned ?

To give a message that goes beyond the communities (even if it's incorrect) is forbidden ?

 

[G.O.O.]

Yes the reason is that all results will look bad no matter what during a crisis. But some are less worse than others and it would take time to explain this. And make him look weak while giving the excuses (real excuses).

Actually, a lot of people still give him credit for his action, and I'm talking about people who don't follow other news than those on TV. Provided he could explain why it was founded, it would work far better that just pointing at immigrants. But he can't. Or maybe he just doesn't want, I'm not sure.

Also, he's already having the weak speech ("I did everything I could").

And the point of the link ? Well, the easy answer would be that in order to look like a protector, one would need to get people scared. But in fact, it's just that I find it funny for him to tell the pupils "it could have been you" while a few days ago, he blamed a teacher for reading a fictional rape scene to kids.

 

[Jubern]

Fucking moron, I nearly chocked when I saw the scene on tv. Who goes and say things like that to traumatized kids?

Someone please tell me that he didn't thought it would make him more popular.

 

[ComputerMKII]

My voter's card just came in the mail but I'm not sure what to do with it.

 

[Mael]

I agree with you overall, Sarkozy is a political beast and won't go down easily.

that wouldn't be a problem if the others weren't so shitty actually.
Mitterand or even Mendes would have had Sarkozy for lunch already.
The only reason Hollande is seen as anything serious is because everbody and their mothers HATE Sarkozy's guts.
But we hated him too in 2007...

When you look at the number of ministers prosecuted/condemned by the justice and the ones who are cited in affairs shit gets scary though.

Who cares about that?
DSK had numerous run ins with the laws before last year and that didn't stop him.
Heck fucking Fabius who's responsible for the whole scandal where hospitals injected HIV positive blood into patients made a come back!
Heck Sarkozy was environment minister when Tchernobyl happened and is pretty much to blame for the whole misinformation surrounding the whole affair here!

 

[ComputerMKII]

that wouldn't be a problem if the others weren't so shitty actually.
Mitterand or even Mendes would have had Sarkozy for lunch already.
The only reason Hollande is seen as anything serious is because everbody and their mothers HATE Sarkozy's guts.
But we hated him too in 2007...



Who cares about that?
DSK had numerous run ins with the laws before last year and that didn't stop him.
Heck fucking Fabius who's responsible for the whole scandal where hospitals injected HIV positive blood into patients made a come back!
Heck Sarkozy was environment minister when Tchernobyl happened and is pretty much to blame for the whole misinformation surrounding the whole affair here!

Sarkozy may score a lot of points in the debate before the second round. He's good in debates and I couldn't listen to Flamby for more than one minute.

 

[Mael]

Sarkozy may score a lot of points in the debate before the second round. He's good in debates and I couldn't listen to Flamby for more than one minute.

That's what convinced a lot of people that Royale was a lunatic so...yeah there's a likely chance he'll get reelected.

 

[Kurtofan]

That's what convinced a lot of people that Royale was a lunatic so...yeah there's a likely chance he'll get reelected.

Royal was way behind in polls.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Royal was way behind in polls.

Never underestimate the Socialists' ability to fuck up at the worst possible moment. No one's actually convinced by their program. If they win it will be because Sarkozy's hated even more, and Hollande gets Mélenchon/Bayrou/Joly's votes in the second round.

 

[Mael]

Royal was way behind in polls.

That might be due to her actually being a shit candidate, her campaign manager defecting to Sarkozy midrun, everyone in the PS trying to sabotage her campaign (including said campaign manager).
But the debate certainly didn't help.

 

[G.O.O.]

But we hated him too in 2007...

It certainly wasn't as obvious. People trusted him back then. Now, they're torn between those who are plain disgusted by him, those who don't trust him anymore for not going far enough and those who'll still vote for him in order to avoid Hollande.

No one's actually convinced by their program.

And yet Hollande is ahead of Sarkozy in polls about key subjects.

 

[Mael]

It certainly wasn't as obvious. People trusted him back then. Now, they're torn between those who are plain disgusted by him, those who don't trust him anymore for not going far enough and those who'll still vote for him in order to avoid Hollande.

Yeah, no. The guy responsible by his handling of the situation of the protests of 2005 wasn't exactly loved either.
Let's say he was polarizing.
Royale was a fucking nutcase though, so people hated her more.
Sarkozy did nothing outrageous in 5 years when you look at his program and the effect it had.
What I mean is they chosed him despite what he proposed so I'm more baffled that they didn't see it coming.

And yet Hollande is ahead of Sarkozy in polls about key subjects.

That's because people REALLY hate Sarkozy's guts.