Sarkozy vs Royal= Cardinal Richelieu vs Marie Antoinette

This is a probably not so clever device comparing Cardinal Richelieu (a mean and frightenly ambitious man ie Sarkozy) with Marie Antoinette (an arrogant woman who put style ahead of substance ie Royal).

The "worst excesses of the French Revolution" is taken from Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest with the meaning construed here much as it is meant there-rather tongue and cheek.

I trust you understand why I called Sarkozy a Pseudo-populist ideologue.  I am certainly not the only one.

Lets face it, I think France has two very bad choices, almost as bad as...let's see....oh that's right....Chirac and Le Pen.  You guys don't exactly have a good record here.  But you are not alone on this in the world.  My own country of Australia is plagued by this lack of leadership as well (see my comment above).

her contempt for the environment and related issues generally.

While I will grant you that the use of "contempt" here may be overly strong, Royal's time as Environment Minister and her environmental activities before and after have been largely taken up with activities that could be put down to the"beautification" of the rural countryside.  While this in and of itself can be a useful thing if it is done properly with good habitat models, it is not really a meaty environmental issue.

She talks a good talk but her record seems ultra-light.

Having worked with the Ibex Program in the Vanoise National Park in the French Alps, anyone there will tell you that on the issue of endangered species and hunting that the success of this program and other related ones across France has always been in spite of the Government in Paris regardless of whether it was Socialist or Conservative.

Furthermore I am not the only one who feels she is all style and little substance, read the very interesting BBC blog about her winning the Socialist candidacy. Many if not most of the French bloggers there are lamenting the Sarkozy/Royal choice much along the same lines that frustrates me.

This is not to say Royal does not have good policies. Her work on GLBT issues is probably one area where she is regarded highly both in talk and in substance.  I certainly agree with her there, and hope that like Prime Minister Zapatero she tackles the marriage issue head on if she gets into office.

Also I take your points on the French Greens--they have been a disorganised lot and plagued with serious anti-Semitic issues.  However, it seems like they may have got their act together in the last few months.

I am sorry if I seem over the top, but you need to understand the depth of feeling with the Rainbow Warrior Issue down here. France committed a terrorist attack on an NGO and on a friendly Pacific nation.  France has been less than apologetic and not acted with integrity in this issue, and now Ségolène Royal is continuing in this rather ignoble vein.  This is indeed contemptuous behaviour in my book.

I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson