This is just one of 11 clips aired twice a day on French Network Television. They are shown back to back in a block with the order of the clips alternating each day. The format of each ad is basically the same, but of course the production and artistic values vary. This is it, as far as political advertising goes. There are posters up, but officially, political posters are only sanctioned on the billboards set up outside the Mayors offices in the villages or the designated voting locations in the bigger towns The time each candidate is given by the media is strictly regulated and monitored. After Friday evening, there will be no political news in the media until the election results are official.
I chose this clip as an example because it illustrates how all shades of the political spectrum are allowed equal expression. The candidate, Phillipe Poutou represents the NPA...or in English, The New Anti-Capitalist Party. The NPA evolved out of the LCR, or the Revolutionary Communist League. In this region, Aquitaine, the NPA is actually polling pretty well. Poutou is from the Bordeaux region. If Poutou is not elected president, he will return to his day job.as a repairman at the Ford Plant in Bordeaux. Poutou is allowed to officially run because he was able to gather 500 endorsements from Mayors across France. He is has become a very popular figure because he is seen as a strong straight talker, full of humor and a good debater. His predecessor, Olivier Besancenot is still nominally head of the party. Olivier ran for president 3 times and is still working as a post man in Paris. He is still considered one of the most popular and likable figures in French politics.
The NPA has seats in the European Parlament and is beginning to be a force in other European countries, like Scotland. It is a party that promoted evolutionary communist solutions to restructure society both economically and socially. It is important to note that the concept of Communism is very different than the frozen, Cold War Kabuki-like manipulated stylization of the concept in the limited intellect of post McCarthytist America. Communism originated in Europe before the Soviet Union and has a continual evolutional ideological history independent of American post Cold War Propaganda. In France, the Communist Party was the heart of the WW2 anti German Resistance movement. They were the heros of the resistance. They are along with the Communist Party and the Socialists and The Front Gauche a strong bloc for the rights of workers and their Unions. I believe that the very open that way the French electoral system is structured allows the influx of ideas and concepts.
It's been a very interesting week here as we slide headlong into Sundays first round of the election. The American media has been making a lot of sensationalist noise about the popularity of Marine LePen of The Front National, the far right nationalist party started by her blatantly racist. anti European father, Jean-Marie LePen. I find that the American press' fascination is all fluff and no analysis. If you took the time to read The Front National's platform, you would find it is much more "liberal' than the American Democrat positions...except of course for the anti immigrant racism, to be fair though, so was Mussolini's original Italian Fascist Party. So Marine is polling as of today, Wednesday, April 18 at 17%. She has pulled ahead of Jean-Luc Melenchon's Communist Front de Gauche Party, who is now polling at 15%. Earlier, I posted videos of Melenchons huge rallies in Paris and Marseille. Melenchon is truly on the left and a another strong pro labor leader. Also on the left is the Communist Workers Struggle, Lutte Ovriere with 1% and Eva Joly's Green Party, Les Verts with 2%.
On Sunday, in Paris, there were two competing rallies at the same time on opposite ends of the citiy. The UMP which is supposedly centrist, but becoming more and more extreme right under the President/Candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy at the Place de la Concorde and The Socialistes headed by Francois Hollande at the Chateau Vincennes. Interestingly, the UMP with their huge budget, charted special trains and busses to bring their militants in from all over France. The final number was about 25,000 and it was an orchestrated quick event with a predominately older crowd with little flags and not enough port a potties. Last night, Sarkozy made a rather desperate speech imploring the Front National ultra conservatives, who detest him to vote for him, because he claimed he would support the racist and ultra nationalist and anti European positions of Marine LePen. That was interesting, because on the other hand, he has been seen making overtures and creating a rumor that he would ask Francois Bayrou, of the faux-centrist Modem Party to be Prime Minister. In the fall out from this development, the press seems to have reached the consensus that if Bayrou even acknowledged this overture, it would be the "kiss Of Death" from Mr. Shitfinger Sarkozy. He has destroyed all of those he touches in his very special way. Watch the particularly pathetic demise of Gerard Depardieu, which is already in progress.....
The Socialistes just by sheer populism, had over 120,000 people and great live music. At the onset of the weekend, the right wing press gave Sarkozy a half point lead in the polls for Sundays election. In the days following, as the situation gels, today, Holland is up to 29% and Sarkozy has lost 4 points! He is the projected winner for Sunday. It didn't help that Sarkozy's UMP had hosted a luxury bash for corporate donors and bigwigs of the UMP at the Hotel de Crillon before the rally. This has been soundly mocked for the last 2 days. In a contrast of style and the present perception of Sarkozy by the French, there was an incident on Friday, when Sarkozy was meeting a group of supporters and suddenly was caught on video, removing his watch and putting it into his pocket. The speculation at the time was that there were 2 dark skinned kids in the line with Sarkozy T Shirts and he was having a paranoiac attack and was afraid of having his watch stolen. Later it was revealed that the watch was a 55,000 Euro piece of bling and maybe he was suddenly aware that it would be used against him. For contrast, in n article in todays Guardian that profiles Francois Hollande, Mr. Hollande stops for a second looks at his watch and comments that it seems to have stopped working. He takes it off, and raps it on the table top and says, "Ahh...Ca marche!" and puts it back on... Then on April 13, Sarkozy tried to pawn Barack Obama. He had a video conference, supposedly about foreign policy. In an unprecedented and ethically questionable lapse of diplomatic protocol, Sarkozy invited reporters and photographers to record his conversation with Obama, which was never about foreign policy. It turned into an attempt to manufacture a PR event with Sarkozy saying in his lousy english, "It must be a busy time." He adds: "I admire the tough battle you are waging." Sarkozy replies, grinning, with arms folded: "We will win, Mr Obama. You and me, together."
Obama tried to end the call, but Sarkozy had his footage, which was pumped on all of the major news reports that night. The relationship between Obama and Sarkozy is rocky at best. Supposedly, Obama does not have much tolerance for the hyper mini president. When the details of Sarkozy's stunt becme public and talked about, his polling took a dive. It is being mocked in the European Press. Only days before, on April 9, news reports from the Russian Press surfaced which claimed Sakozy had called Obama a lunatic and questioned his sanity because Obama would not listen to his advice about how to deal with Islam.
But, there is specualtion that the lack luster performance Sarkozy gave at his big rally on Sunday was triggered by an incident at the luncheon at the Crillon when he was opening his oysters and gagged as he found this in one of the shells........
It's been a very interesting week here as we slide headlong into Sundays first round of the election. The American media has been making a lot of sensationalist noise about the popularity of Marine LePen of The Front National, the far right nationalist party started by her blatantly racist. anti European father, Jean-Marie LePen. I find that the American press' fascination is all fluff and no analysis. If you took the time to read The Front National's platform, you would find it is much more "liberal' than the American Democrat positions...except of course for the anti immigrant racism, to be fair though, so was Mussolini's original Italian Fascist Party. So Marine is polling as of today, Wednesday, April 18 at 17%. She has pulled ahead of Jean-Luc Melenchon's Communist Front de Gauche Party, who is now polling at 15%. Earlier, I posted videos of Melenchons huge rallies in Paris and Marseille. Melenchon is truly on the left and a another strong pro labor leader. Also on the left is the Communist Workers Struggle, Lutte Ovriere with 1% and Eva Joly's Green Party, Les Verts with 2%.
On Sunday, in Paris, there were two competing rallies at the same time on opposite ends of the citiy. The UMP which is supposedly centrist, but becoming more and more extreme right under the President/Candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy at the Place de la Concorde and The Socialistes headed by Francois Hollande at the Chateau Vincennes. Interestingly, the UMP with their huge budget, charted special trains and busses to bring their militants in from all over France. The final number was about 25,000 and it was an orchestrated quick event with a predominately older crowd with little flags and not enough port a potties. Last night, Sarkozy made a rather desperate speech imploring the Front National ultra conservatives, who detest him to vote for him, because he claimed he would support the racist and ultra nationalist and anti European positions of Marine LePen. That was interesting, because on the other hand, he has been seen making overtures and creating a rumor that he would ask Francois Bayrou, of the faux-centrist Modem Party to be Prime Minister. In the fall out from this development, the press seems to have reached the consensus that if Bayrou even acknowledged this overture, it would be the "kiss Of Death" from Mr. Shitfinger Sarkozy. He has destroyed all of those he touches in his very special way. Watch the particularly pathetic demise of Gerard Depardieu, which is already in progress.....
The Socialistes just by sheer populism, had over 120,000 people and great live music. At the onset of the weekend, the right wing press gave Sarkozy a half point lead in the polls for Sundays election. In the days following, as the situation gels, today, Holland is up to 29% and Sarkozy has lost 4 points! He is the projected winner for Sunday. It didn't help that Sarkozy's UMP had hosted a luxury bash for corporate donors and bigwigs of the UMP at the Hotel de Crillon before the rally. This has been soundly mocked for the last 2 days. In a contrast of style and the present perception of Sarkozy by the French, there was an incident on Friday, when Sarkozy was meeting a group of supporters and suddenly was caught on video, removing his watch and putting it into his pocket. The speculation at the time was that there were 2 dark skinned kids in the line with Sarkozy T Shirts and he was having a paranoiac attack and was afraid of having his watch stolen. Later it was revealed that the watch was a 55,000 Euro piece of bling and maybe he was suddenly aware that it would be used against him. For contrast, in n article in todays Guardian that profiles Francois Hollande, Mr. Hollande stops for a second looks at his watch and comments that it seems to have stopped working. He takes it off, and raps it on the table top and says, "Ahh...Ca marche!" and puts it back on... Then on April 13, Sarkozy tried to pawn Barack Obama. He had a video conference, supposedly about foreign policy. In an unprecedented and ethically questionable lapse of diplomatic protocol, Sarkozy invited reporters and photographers to record his conversation with Obama, which was never about foreign policy. It turned into an attempt to manufacture a PR event with Sarkozy saying in his lousy english, "It must be a busy time." He adds: "I admire the tough battle you are waging." Sarkozy replies, grinning, with arms folded: "We will win, Mr Obama. You and me, together."
Obama tried to end the call, but Sarkozy had his footage, which was pumped on all of the major news reports that night. The relationship between Obama and Sarkozy is rocky at best. Supposedly, Obama does not have much tolerance for the hyper mini president. When the details of Sarkozy's stunt becme public and talked about, his polling took a dive. It is being mocked in the European Press. Only days before, on April 9, news reports from the Russian Press surfaced which claimed Sakozy had called Obama a lunatic and questioned his sanity because Obama would not listen to his advice about how to deal with Islam.
But, there is specualtion that the lack luster performance Sarkozy gave at his big rally on Sunday was triggered by an incident at the luncheon at the Crillon when he was opening his oysters and gagged as he found this in one of the shells........
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| April 18, 2012...4 days to the Premier tour of the Presidential election Hollande 29% / Sarkozy 24% For the decisive second round, Hollande has a 14% lead! There is an air of desperation as crews pack up boxes in the ministries. Many of Sarko's ministers have stated that they will be voting for Hollande. The President/Candidate's final moments have seem to degenerated into a plea, an appeal to re elect him so he will not have to face the inevitable prosecutions circling like blood crazed sharks around his hemorrhaging presidency that his office has protected him from because of French Law. |
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