I smell a rat§§§

[yogi bear up the cagire]

FRENCH RIGHT WING PRIMARIES

I smell a RAT! Democracy or gerrymandering in action? Pay 2 euros and vaguely adhere to a right-wing agenda and you have the right to vote. An outside candidate languishing in third place, is suddenly propelled to clear leader. In whose interest is it to have this 'Thatcherite' candidate as a winner??? I.3million euros seems a small price to pay, in order to hold influence over the leadership of a 'world class power.'

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

FRENCH RIGHT WING PRIMARIES

I smell a RAT! Democracy or gerrymandering in action? Pay 2 euros and vaguely adhere to a right-wing agenda and you have the right to vote. An outside candidate languishing in third place, is suddenly propelled to clear leader. In whose interest is it to have this 'Thatcherite' candidate as a winner??? I.3million euros seems a small price to pay, in order to hold influence over the leadership of a 'world class power.'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...efeated-primary-french-rightwing-presidential

Personally,I'm just glad that Sarkozy has been beaten.However, it would seem more difficult for anyone on the left to hold their nose and vote for a right wing candidate like Fillon rather than the more centrist Juppé, (if that's what happens next weekend), in the second round of the French Presidential elections next year.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Looks like us in France are going to be offered the thrilling choice between Fillon and Le Pen in next year's Presidential run off. It's rather like, in England, being offered a choice between Thatcher and Farage. That's democracy for you.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...efeated-primary-french-rightwing-presidential

Personally,I'm just glad that Sarkozy has been beaten.However, it would seem more difficult for anyone on the left to hold their nose and vote for a right wing candidate like Fillon rather than the more centrist Juppé, (if that's what happens next weekend), in the second round of the French Presidential elections next year.

Couldn't agree more about Sarkozy. Couldn't you just hear Front National rally's (like Trump's republicans) chanting, SARKOZY EN PRISON! SARKOZY EN PRISON!..............if he had been selected. Is Macron the only (unlikely) hope for 2017???

 

[MK Shrimper]

The world is moving to the extreme right guys - Le Pen will get voted in.

 

[RobM]

Le Pen is mightier than Le Sword!

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

The world is moving to the extreme right guys - Le Pen will get voted in.

No, that's not right MK, let me correct you. Extreme right is Fillon........Le Pen is extreme, extreme right. Yet, in my opinion, Fillon as the candidate for the right could well make it more likely for Le Pen to be elected. The fear will be that disgruntled socialist voters, in the second round, will either, a) not see the point of bothering to come out to vote for Fillon, even against Le Pen. b) Some socialist voters, I fear, will view Le Pen as a better option. All in all, quite frightening.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Le Pen is mightier than Le Sword!

If only it were a joking matter Rob. :'(

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Couldn't agree more about Sarkozy. Couldn't you just hear Front National rally's (like Trump's republicans) chanting, SARKOZY EN PRISON! SARKOZY EN PRISON!..............if he had been selected. Is Macron the only (unlikely) hope for 2017???

Remember the Socialist's slogan in 2002.Vote for the crook (Chirac) not the racist (Le Pen).:smile:

The world is moving to the extreme right guys - Le Pen will get voted in.

No chance.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Ha! You'll have to do rather better than that to provoke an angry response. Too many ugly images like that posted on walls around France.

 

[Swiss Tony]

Looks like us in France are going to be offered the thrilling choice between Fillon and Le Pen in next year's Presidential run off. It's rather like, in England, being offered a choice between Thatcher and Farage. That's democracy for you.

It could be worse, Corbyn and Blair springs to mind.:facepalm:

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Remember the Socialist's slogan in 2002.Vote for the crook (Chirac) not the racist (Le Pen).:smile:



No chance.

Another slogan another era. "No chance"...........bloody hell Barna! the last thing you wan't to do is underestimate the NF, especially in the present climate. Unlike 2002, the nutter that was Jean-marie has been replaced by Marine who has sanatised the look of the party and had a well oiled organised machine with a shiny façade. The same nastiness is still there but well hidden from public view. She has produced what, on the surface, is the illusion of a respectable party, which people no longer appear embarrassed about voting for.
She needs to be severely tackled on her policies rather than arguing over whether she is or isn't a racist. Like most populist politicians she offers simple and naive solutions to extremely complex problems. They'll eventually be seen through but the damage that can be done in the meantime may be immeasurable.
In the end the socialists may produce whatever clever slogan they want but unlike 2002 you can't bank on their supporters following what they are told to do. It is also well to understand that Chirac, although of the right, was not an extreme liberal. Fillon will shake France up in ways large numbers of people will not like.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

It could be worse, Corbyn and Blair springs to mind.:facepalm:

Yes............but Corbyn has no chance of being elected and Blair, who ran a conservative war-mongering administration, would have one or two problems getting elected again.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Yes............but Corbyn has no chance of being elected and Blair, who ran a conservative war-mongering administration, would have one or two problems getting elected again.

So says the right wing media and the polls, but not the by-election results. Makes you wonder why they would repeat this over and over when if they were so sure why not just let it happen.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

From Mark Steyn:

The French center-right is trying to avoid the mistake of the Republican establishment in the crowded early primary season: every other consideration is subordinate to the need to find a viable non-Le Pen, who will surely make it into the final run-off of the presidential contest. Given that remarkable fact, it is sad to see Bernard-Henri Lévy get things so back to front:

"If Trump is possible, then everything is possible," Mr Levy told the Telegraph. "Nothing, from now on, is unimaginable.

"As for Le Pen it is unlikely that she wins but it is possible, and that is partly because the people have lost interest in policy, instead focusing on personality."

Like Trump, Marine Le Pen has a powerful personality. But, like Trump, she's leading precisely because the people have not lost interest in policy. Au contraire. It is the elites that have lost interest. Thus the Gallic shrug of Prime Minister Manuel Valls: if it's a choice between re-thinking immigration policy or getting used to Nice-scale terrorism, you schlubs better get used to it - because your betters can't rouse themselves to reconsider the world they've made. As with Trump, Marine Le Pen's supporters are rejecting the bipartisan policy consensus on this matter and demanding the right to discuss it.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

So says the right wing media and the polls, but not the by-election results. Makes you wonder why they would repeat this over and over when if they were so sure why not just let it happen.

Yes I wish they would. I do not believe that a few by-elections in the UK are as reliable a barometer as the global shift to populist nationalist movements. Brexit, Trump, Le Pen, Hofer and Petry are more significant than Labour retaining Ogmore and Tooting. The tide has turned, and we are winning.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Yes I wish they would. I do not believe that a few by-elections in the UK are as reliable a barometer as the global shift to populist nationalist movements. Brexit, Trump, Le Pen, Hofer and Petry are more significant than Labour retaining Ogmore and Tooting. The tide has turned, and we are winning.

The right is certainly winning at the moment and it is why we need to redouble our efforts to find a way of defending our hard earned justice, decency, freedoms and liberties. The credo of deregulation and economic liberalism has failed us terribly but the answer is not protectionism, prejudice, fear and hate...........there must be another way and it needs to be found quickly.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

The right is certainly winning at the moment and it is why we need to redouble our efforts to find a way of defending our hard earned justice, decency, freedoms and liberties. The credo of deregulation and economic liberalism has failed us terribly but the answer is not protectionism, prejudice, fear and hate...........there must be another way and it needs to be found quickly.

The credo of political correctness and demonizing dissent has failed you. The left has tried to shut down the debate and it has not succeeded. Decency and freedom are winning again, there is no need to be afraid.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

The credo of political correctness and demonizing dissent has failed you. The left has tried to shut down the debate and it has not succeeded. Decency and freedom are winning again, there is no need to be afraid.

In my view you have a rather warped sense of what you consider as decency and freedom but that's your right. :smile: The very fact of being told by someone who holds your purported beliefs, that there is nothing to fear, sends shivers down my spine.........which of course it was meant to do. I am not particularly of the left but there again, like all fundamentalists, you believe those who are not with you are against you.