by Carrie
Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 08:31:57 AM EST
Yesterday, at the Eurostar terminal in Paris, I picked up the latest issue of Marianne because of its front-page story, 11 blood-curdling pages under the title Le vrai Sarkozy: ce que les grands médias n'osent pas or ne veulet pas dévoiler (The True Sarkozy: what the large media dare not or will not unveil).
Update [2007-4-17 5:30:37 by Jerome a Paris]:: you can read the text here (3MB pdf).
Promoted by Colman
The piece paints a portrait of a man that the domestic press is afraid to criticise (though, as they point out, that if not the case of the foreign press). The anecdotal evidence is that it's gotten to the point where Sarkozy no longer needs to intervene and the journalistic profession self-censors. But this doesn't extend only to the press: the article is littered with anonymous (again, self-censored) quotations attributed to Sarkozy supporters or allies who don't like him but have their political futures tied to him and don't dare speak out. Marianne shows Sarkozy as a narcissistic authoritarian who often lashes out at the members of his own party and even the memers of his own government (Chirac and Villepin, his President and Prime Minister, included), and who by his vindicative nature has ended up surrounded by a chorus of yes-men who feed his narcissism.
I fear for France and Europe if this guy gets elected.