Supporting the Mohamed cartoonist is definitely not a rightwing thing, it is a republicain thing, and a good chunk (thre majority)  of these are on the left.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

Sarko is Interior Minister and ministre des cultes. This casts a quite different light on his open support for Charlie Hebdo (for which he'd hardly otherwise be suspected of sympathy... ;)). He must have known he'd create a fuss, being accused of stepping out of the neutral line his "stewardship" of religious bodies implies. (I flagged this on the Salon the other day, knowing there would be protests, and they quickly followed).

But it also has to be seen in conjunction with his aggressive talk (I heard it on the radio, nothing like the soft talk he's been coming up with since mid-January) about making life in France uncomfortable for religious heads of family (and being rapturously applauded for it), and above all his defence of colonialism. Le Pen wasn't making any mistake about it. This is Sarko back fishing in his lake. Not that Le Pen cares...