A nativist American columnist, Cal Thomas, wrote a piece for The Miami Herald (and because he's syndicated it probably was printed in dozens of other papers) about the soft "socialist" de Villepin being a weakling compared to the tough realist Le Pen. Does anyone have a list of comments or a brief run-down of Le Pen's record I can use for a Letter to the Editor? I once had a car full of beret-wearing toughs with armbands scream "Coco-tete" at my kids, aged 6 and 10, (they are Asian) in Angiers and then come after us with canned goods, but a shopkeeper took us in, locked the door and called Les Flics. Is there a name for these FN brownshirts?

Thanks in advance:

Melvin Hecht
Baltimore, Maryland.