France elects conservative.

weenie
Mon, 07 May 2007 22:07:21 +0000

NY Times:

Instead, with the imminent departure of Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, Mr. Bush got to congratulate the man who may well become his new best friend in Europe.

“They had a friendly, very friendly chat,” said David Martinon, Mr. Sarkozy’s chief of staff, in a telephone interview. “Mr. Sarkozy wants to improve the relationship with the United States, to renew it. There’s a need for a change. There has to be a way to restore confidence.”

Mr. Sarkozy is Mr. Bush’s kind of guy: brash, tough-talking and proud of it. Mr. Sarkozy’s vow to rid the troubled suburbs of France of delinquent youths — “scum,” he calls them — is the French equivalent of Mr. Bush’s vow to “Bring ’em on.”

Both men are teetotalers. Both are disciplined exercisers: Mr. Sarkozy jogs and, like Mr. Bush, is a fearsome bike rider.

In Washington, Mr. Sarkozy’s victory has been warmly welcomed.



Oh dear. Nothing like hitching your wagon to a guy with a 28% approval rate at home.