(Far-right??) French Prez candidate - WTH?

[rock_jock]

Le Pen Aims at EU in Surprising French Presidential Bid

By Paul Holmes

PARIS (Reuters) - Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen nailed his hostility to the European Union (news - web sites) to the mast of his surprising run for the French presidency Monday as mainstream leaders rallied to President Jacques Chirac to fight him off.

In a showing which shamed many French, stunned Europe and ended the career of Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, former paratrooper Le Pen stormed in second to conservative Chirac in Sunday's first round to enter a May 5 runoff vote.

Switching his focus from crime and immigration, Le Pen told a post-election news conference he would take France out of the European Union's Maastricht Treaty which killed the franc and brought in the euro if he defied the odds and won the runoff.

"I am not an enemy of Europe. I am a partisan of a Europe of nations, a Europe of homelands, but I am a determined adversary of a supranational, federal, federalizing Europe," said Le Pen, a 73-year-old veteran of the extreme right.

"What I have not accepted in the Europe of Brussels is that it was said to be irreversible," he declared.

Riding a wave of discontent over crime, immigration and establishment politics, the National Front party leader pushed Jospin into third place Sunday and placed a huge question mark over the stability of France's political system.

Up to 10,000 protesters marched in Paris overnight shouting "Le Pen is a fascist" while police fired teargas at hundreds of demonstrators who threw barriers in the Place de la Concorde.

Dismay at Le Pen's surge of working class support rippled through France's Jewish community --already fearful after a wave of anti-Semitic attacks -- and the country's Muslim population, the largest in Europe.

Pollsters who had failed to predict Le Pen's rise forecast a second round landslide for Chirac as the 69-year-old incumbent gained support from arch-rivals on the left and right.

The Socialists, left leaderless after Jospin announced he was quitting politics, and the Communists, reeling from their worst showing in a presidential vote, both said they would back Chirac to keep out Le Pen.

"Of course, Jacques Chirac is our adversary in the democratic arena, but Jean-Marie Le Pen is a danger for the republic," said Socialist Party chairman Francois Hollande.

"Between a ballot for Le Pen or a ballot for Chirac, we are voting Jacques Chirac," he said.

The Roman Catholic Church in France also issued a veiled call for a Chirac vote. Without referring to either candidate by name, the country's bishops said the period ahead called for "intelligence rather than instinct ... serenity rather than fear."

What exactly makes this guy a far-right extremist and a facist? Because he rails against crime and unchecked immigration? Because he doesn't buy into a one-world govt system? Because he wants to retain national sovereignty?

Do these morons even understand what a facist is? If this guy is a facist, I wonder what the Eurotrash crowd thinks of us gun-toting Americans?

BTW, there may be more to this story, but if so, its certainly not obvious from this article.

[LonWilson]

I want to know how Le Pen feels about gun rights. If he was truly a man who trusted his own citizens, he should do everything possible to repeal gun control laws in France and allow EVERYONE to carry for self-defense.

[Salt]

France is only a few decades away from becoming a Third World Islamic nation due to the Socialist governments having opened the gates to an overpopulated Third World.

The socialists have brought in immigration from an overpopulated Third World so that more voters would be dependent on the welfare state. Thus they buy votes for themselves. The Left wing are also Internationalists and their goal is to destroy all Western Nations. They want to destroy all nations so as to make way for global government.

About time the the French begin to take back their country from the Internationalists and their hoards of **** World invaders.

The issue becomes much more clear when one reads Pat Buchanin's DEATH OF THE WEST and Jean Raspail's THE CAMP OF THE SAINT'S.

[LonWilson]

I hope they do. Get rid of the illegals, and maybe, just maybe, dismantle the socialist warfare system there.

[Destructo6]

I hope he wins.

It's beyond me why any country would relinquish its identity/sovereignty to some uber-europe. It may not be there today, but there's little doubt where it's headed.

[Bulldog44]

Two things to keep in mind here:

First of all, the people of the French Republic tend to be indifferent to what their elected officials are doing in that, despite whether the government is officially liberal or officially conservative, policies rarely change. France has long been a highly structured and thoroughly regulated economy and political entity, regardless of who is in power at any given time.

Secondly, the terms "right wing" and "left wing" do not necessarily have similar definitions to their counterparts in America. The principles of each may be similar, but Americans can't accurately judge an official's stand on any particular issue just because he/she is labeled as "right" or "left" unless they understand exactly what constitutes each political philosophy in another political system.

[Drizzt]

These are the changes that Jean-Marie Le Pen would seek to make if elected president of France, according to his campaign web site, www.lepen.tv :

o Outlaw abortion and end official recognition of same-sex unions.

o Develop programs to increase the birth rate and pay benefits to women who stay at home with their children.

o End legal immigration.

o Deport illegal immigrants and eliminate dual nationality.

o Give French citizens priority for all jobs and public housing; create a separate medical benefits system for foreigners working in France, so that French tax money would not be used for foreigners' care.

o Allow only French citizens to teach in French schools.

o Reinstitute morality classes; require student participation in patriotic events and holidays.

o Outlaw the wearing of yarmulkes and Muslim headscarves in schools.

o Create 200,000 new prison beds.

o Expand and give new rights to the police force.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/in...pe/23FRAN.html

Now you see why they consider him "right-wing".

[LonWilson]

Great, an arch conservative wet dream.

[Bulldog44]

IMO, he's doomed. The French people will never elect him with those campaign promises.

I'm surprised that he fared as well as he did.

(Watch me end up eating these words. Soon, we may be indeed hearing of President Le Pen of the French Republic.)

[gorlitsa]

I saw the actual vote break-down somewhere today. The big deal is that this guy got second place in their version of the 'primary' and so only he and the number one guy are now candidates.

Thing is, he got 16.7% while the guy behind him got 16.4%, or something like that.

The number one got over 50% as is. And everyone who can vote and doesn't want LePen will be voting against him. He has no chance.

[Skorzeny]

Chirac will win, period. There is NO way that Jean-Marie Le Pen will win.

BTW, Le Pen is also given to periodic outbursts of racist remarks. I question why some of the TFLers are so eager to embrace a leader of an organization that is clearly neo-fascist in its political orientation.

What this "surprise" victory for Le Pen also tells me is that there is a plurality of closet bigots in France. When there is such a huge disparity between what the polls say and how some voters actually voted, the conclusion is that some of the voters were unwilling to admit their actual preferences during polling.

This happened with David Duke here in the US as well - he got more votes than voters admitted during polling.

Skorzeny

[Marko Kloos]

Much like a bunch of turkeys voting for Thanksgiving as their favorite holiday.

[UltimaThule]

This guy has also said (repeatedly) things like: "Holocaust was an insignicant episode in WWII" and "I'm not a racist, because I have a black gardener."

I do not believe French Jews dislike/distrust him beause they are all socialist.

[pittspilot]

"Great, an arch conservative wet dream"

Weak Comment, sort of a mixture of an ad hominum and a conflation of terms. What is meant by arch conservative? Is that sort of like the Taliban wing of the Republican Party? Weak

A Right Winger in France is a very different creature then a Right Winger here. Because of thier system (proportional democracy) there tends to be multiple parties that capture thier tiny piece of the political spectrum. On one side you will have Fascists. On the other side Communists. Because the parties are fighting for such a small ground, they tend to be extremely focused, quite unlike the political figures here. An interesting feature of their system is that the biggest political fights do not occur between the left and the right, but between center right and right because they are fighting for the same voters. In the US, both parties fight for the center.

[rock_jock]

Thanks for the info Drizzt. These things would definitely be considered right-wing in any western country. And, some of them are pretty extreme; others I applaud and the rest are understandable given the siege mentality of some french with regard to immigration. My take on his campaign promises:

o Outlaw abortion and end official recognition of same-sex unions.

AGREE, BUT I CAN'T SEE THE FRENCH ADHERING TO ANY MORAL FRAMEWORK AT THIS POINT IN THE GAME

o Develop programs to increase the birth rate and pay benefits to women who stay at home with their children.

DISAGREE, WOMEN SHOULD NOT BE PAID TO HAVE BABIES

o End legal immigration.

SUSPEND UNTIL FRANCE STABILIZES AND ABSORBS WHAT THEY HAVE, PERHAPS, BUT NOT END PERMANENTELY

o Deport illegal immigrants and eliminate dual nationality.

AGREE; AFTERALL, THEY ARE ILLEGAL

o Give French citizens priority for all jobs and public housing; create a separate medical benefits system for foreigners working in France, so that French tax money would not be used for foreigners' care.

AGREE

o Allow only French citizens to teach in French schools.

AGREE

o Reinstitute morality classes; require student participation in patriotic events and holidays.

POSSIBLY AGREE, DEPENDING ON CONTEXT

o Outlaw the wearing of yarmulkes and Muslim headscarves in schools.

AGREE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS; PRIVATE SCHOOLS CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT

o Create 200,000 new prison beds.

AGREE

o Expand and give new rights to the police force.

DISAGREE

[RobW]

LePen is around some ten years. Different from conservatives here he wants to extend government power in a country, that has already a very centralist structure (for example, mayors are not elected, they are appointed by the government).

[Don Gwinn]

I'm not sure I understand--why do you agree that it makes sense to ban yarmulkes and head scarves in public schools?

[rock_jock]

Actually, there are good arguments to both sides of this issue. Perhaps my original assessment is too harsh. I guess I was thinking that there are plenty of ways of kids expressing their religious preference without donning an article of clothing that can be a touchstone for tension. Then again, I'm a proponent of school uniforms, too.