European Tribune

Conservative French presidential candidate kills four, injures ten during televised debate

by Monsieur le Prof
Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 01:16:02 PM EST

French media declares 'distinguished victory' for far-right candidate after two-hour debate marked by long sentences, four murders

As reported in the
The La Rochelle Times

Luc Attmi
La Lune de la presse internationale

MONTPELIER, FRANCE

During the televised presidential debate yesterday evening between the two French presidential candidates, who face a runoff election on Sunday, conservative nominee Nicolas Sarkozy opened fire on the audience in mid-debate, killing four people and wounding ten others. The outburst of violence was caused primarily by the persistent, aggressive questioning of the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal. Thrown off and flustered after having been caught in flagrant lies and disinformation, the Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP) conservative party candidate took out an automatic weapon and began firing into the crowd. Security forces intervened to evacuate the remaining participants, before Mr. Sarkozy was allowed to continue speaking and resume the debate.

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After the incident French media highlighted "the power and the conviction" of Mister Sarkozy, declaring that his violent acts were largely the "key event" of the debate which could ultimately give way to a "moral and just presidency" if Sarkozy wins the presidential election on Sunday. UMP supporters also applauded Sarkozy's actions, explaining that the "power of his personality" was obvious when he made the decision to use deadly force against innocent people.

"This only shows us what we've already seen throughout the entire campaign," explained Anne Equedotte, a UMP supporter. "Now no one can have any doubts about the power and the convictions of Mister Sarkozy, and I hope that the people will remember this when they cast their votes on Sunday. I'd like to remind my fellow French citizens that if Sarkozy isn't elected, we might have a lot more debates like this that will allow us to demonstrate our convictions, as we saw yesterday evening."

The Socialist candidate responded to the violence with long, precise sentences and complicated ideas, which seemingly did not interest the television audience. According to analysts, the Socialist candidate was "way too into her thoughts and not enough into entertaining the audience," which could hurt her chances Sunday.

"In a sense Mrs. Royal knows how to debate, but Mr. Sarkozy gained a net advantage when he took out his weapon and shot the audience members. Decidedly, Mrs. Royal doesn't have the same strong conviction that the UMP candidate does, and thus she lost the debate to the right-wing candidate," commented Destin Toulouse, journalist for the French newspaper Le Figaro.

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I forget to mention this over at the other place, but this piece is just great - LOL funny.

Welcome!

"Ideas or the lack of them can cause disease." - Kurt Vonnegut

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 01:27:53 PM EST
And people were saying it was boring! (Welcome to ET prof!!)

Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!
by whataboutbob on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 02:25:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
because if Sarkozy steals it things will have to get serious ...
by Monsieur le Prof (top notch records [all one word] at gmail dot com) on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 02:49:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Damn George Bush! Damn everyone that won't damn George Bush! Damn every one that won't put lights in his window and sit up all night damning George Bush!
by brainwave on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 02:36:14 PM EST
This was hilarious.

And welcome to ET. What a start!

by A swedish kind of death on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 02:50:49 PM EST
That was the debate I saw. Glad at least one other paranoid schizophrenic saw the same thing as me.

Did you also notice Arlette Chabot fiddling with herself under the table? Any idea what she was doing?

Welcome, Meusieur le Prof...

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 04:23:00 PM EST
more seriously


Restoration
By Laurent Joffrin
Libération

Wednesday 02 May 2007

    Testing events reveal men. And what better ordeal for a politician than a presidential campaign? The one that ends this Sunday will have revealed the true Sarkozy. Hence, this special edition of Libération, which is designed to give voters the tools to choose between two people who each incarnate a specific vision of the Republic. Curiously, it's the reference to the past that provides the most useful key to understanding the future Nicolas Sarkozy plans. And, still more curiously, this past - the one the UMP candidate has chosen himself - is symbolized by a date that we could have believed to be buried in the recesses of memory: May '68....

    One may criticize the events of that time and not always be wrong. But one thing about them cannot be denied: that pseudo-revolution was above all a revolt against a too-rigid, too-centralized and too-authoritarian government. By using those events as the scapegoat for France's maladies, Nicolas Sarkozy confesses his plan. Nothing more or less than a restoration. That's the principal criticism one may level against this unquestionably republican man: his concept of power and of government. Activist, interventionist, bridling against any opposition, allergic to too much freedom in the media or society, he wants to put an end to the open history of the late sixties that one part of French society has experienced as decadence and the other part as a liberation.

An authoritarian government? Perhaps. A strong government, in any case, that wants to act from the top of the social hierarchy to make a country that has up to now been recalcitrant to toe the line on neo-liberal globalization. A concentrated power that wants to hold not only government institutions in its grip, but also money and media networks. A government power, in short, acclaimed Sunday in Bercy at the great UMP* rally and rejected yesterday at Charléty during the reunion of the entire Left. What clearer choice in a month of May full of sunlight, fear and hope?

this theme of Restoration (aka Backlash, revanchism, etc)  is very strong at present in multiple countries.  always a powerful sentimental lever to move the electorate:  restoring the Good Old Days, restoring Order, Certainty, etc.  presumably it's an indicator of panic among the political classes:  only when they have nothing good to say about the immediate future do they turn to repackaging and reselling the heavily airbrushed past.

I would not be surprised to hear Sarko promise to make the trains run on time :-) although strangely enough (despite all that leftist anarchy, disorder, indiscipline, sloth, foreign influence and general long-haired goofiness that so frightens ultracons of all nations) most of them already are :-)

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 05:22:44 PM EST
Joffrin is so has been with all those of May 68.

what Sarkozy said, he want to turn the page of May68, that doesnt mean he want to go back, it s mean he wish to write something new without forgetting what has been written before.

what ever, talking about may68 is just a cheap but very successful strategy to piss the leftists off and make them look "has been" with something that is not very popular within all generations that didnot benefit or suffer from May68.

He just shows them the door :-)).

by fredouil (fredouil@gmailgmailgmail.com) on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 08:25:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by the way, the latest (03/05/07) CSA and IPSOS polls :

IPSOS
Sarkozy : 53.5 (+0.5)
Royal   : 46.5 (-0.5)

CSA
Sarkozy : 53 (+1)
Royal   : 47 (-1)

by fredouil (fredouil@gmailgmailgmail.com) on Thu May 3rd, 2007 at 08:39:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Like everything in Sarko's campaign, its simply Gingrich and Bush adapted into a French idiom. Gingrich, knowing that his plans to redistribute wealth massively away from working people and to destroy public services would never have much appeal, ran instead against "the culture of permissiveness of the 1960s..." Bush, knowing that he was vulnerable to criticism for virtually everything he'd done, ran in 04 as the victim of "Bush-hatred".

Also, Sarkozy made "68" an issue because the primary idea with which it is associated these days is no longer economic transformation but an end to rigid, patriarchal family and professional hierarchies -- in other words, equal opportunities for women.

by desmoulins (gsb6@lycos.com) on Fri May 4th, 2007 at 02:39:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Kudoes for the piece - superb. The photo montage is outstanding too.
by Lupin on Fri May 4th, 2007 at 02:59:06 AM EST
Welcome M le Prof! and thanks for spreading un-spin of mssr. ugly.  

At the risk of being a party pooper, I think it will become painful to scroll down the front page for the next few days, with that picture on it.  I may be able to stand it if you paint him a moustache, glasses, a Pinocchio nose and zits.  

Sensitive, I know.

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena.

by metavision on Fri May 4th, 2007 at 06:48:36 AM EST


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