"Anyway Chirac himself apparently didn't think that defeating Sarkozy would lead to his coalition falling apart, considering he endorsed Hollande, calling him a 'true statesman'."

Yeah, Chirac endorsed him because Hollande is probably the better person to lead France. Chirac's a scumbag too, but it's certainly possible that he put aside cynical political interests for the good of the country, especially since he's retired.

The UMP exists to win presidential elections. It's a cobbling together of the disparate forces of the non-crazy French right. Now that they've lost it's possible that there's a split back to the RPR-UDF divide, or at least a damaging civil war for the party's soul. In either case the newly energized NF can position itself as serious opposition force, especially if it does well in legislative elections coming up. That's bad.


"And if the PS are 'pinkos', I'm an astronaut. The Parti Socialiste abandoned any inkling of socialism long ago in the Mitterand years."

Maybe you don't know what pinko means. It doesn't mean the sort of socialism you support. It means things like, oh, a 75% income tax.


"But it says something that Redhouse & Invictus freak out even if a generic center-left politician wins office. What exactly impressed you about Sarkozy? His repeal of the sexual harassment laws? His continual race-baiting whenever his popularity sagged? His total disregard for the political independence of the French courts?"

Could you misrepresent me more? I'm sad Sarkozy lost only because I think it means the NF will be the biggest winner from that. Hypothetically, if things don't improve under Hollande's term Le Pen could end up winning in 2017 instead of a normal conservative.

Nothing really impressed me about Sarkozy. We almost agree here, Putin33, why pick fights?