The polls were wrong in France. The right-wing National Rally party led by fascist spawn Marine Le Pen tried to obscure its past as bigoted Vichy apologists. As Abe Lincoln reputedly said in 1858: “You can fool all of the people, some of the time. You can fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.’”
That held true in France where the National Rally finished third in the second round of legislative elections. They were defeated by a combination of popular outrage and tactical voting. They gained seats but not as many as predicted by the polls.
Repeat after me: Fuck the polls.
Just as heartening as the fascist flop was the resurgence of the French left. They’ve been down and out but they adopted and adapted a name from their glorious past, The New Popular Front and finished first leading to a hung parliament. No dick jokes, please.
I have no particular expertise in French politics, I don’t speak the language. But I have great affection for the French, their culture, and their friendship with our country dating from 1778. The French are the kind of friends I like best: They level with you. After 9/11 Jacques Chirac was such a good friend to America that he told us the truth about the Iraq War and tried to stop it.
Vive La France.
The last word goes to Victor Laszlo and the gang at Rick’s Cafe Americain:
Major Strasser can go fuck himself.
A great short article, here, all the facts, and a little humor. I seem to remember the tiny influence that European politics have on our domestic scene, verifying the adage ‘All politics is local’. Most likely the best we can hope for is diminishment of U.S. right wing influence on NATO voting.