Since immediately before the invasion of Iraq, France has been vilified by the right. Any claimed adverse aspect of its behaviour, any adverse indicators regarding its economic performance is seized upon with delight.

The left has been guilty of some of the same myopia. I watched with some sense of despondency about the balance and accuracy in the blogosphere as one week some adverse economic figures were published in the Autumn about France that were trumpeted all over Free Republic, with silence here. The following week, positive forecasts were published about French GNP that showed considerable expected improvement. Silence on the right; "Allez France" on here.