A pathetic show for the cameras attempting to garner even more votes; clearly she is feeling the first alarm calls of internal - and potentially fatal - political difficulties. Do we really believe this family bickering signals changes at core level? Very improbable. An ideology based on racism, xenophobia, aggressiveness, violence, antisemitism, mental unbalances and radical neo-fascism would allow no breaches. Be that as it may, Le Pen father out? good riddance. A fascist less.
This reminds me of David Duke's efforts to become the kinder gentler Klansman when he ran for governor of Louisiana. I doubt the daughter has truly broken off with pere Le pen, but has asked him to play along until she makes it into office. I'm sure she still dresses as Marshal Petain for masquerade parties.
2
So the heir to a political ideology wants the father to retreat into the shadows; because he betrays their shared beliefs, and the new, sugar-coated packaging is better for getting votes. Because voters are stupid enough to vote for those blonde locks and pretty face. Are we talking Marine LePen or Rand Paul???
2
The reason a party like Le Pen's party continues to make increasing progress in getting voters is because the major parties simply refuse to address the concerns of that great mass in the middle. The elitists turn their nose up at these concerns - the "rabble" must obey and agree with the views of their "betters." Political revolutions have been built on less.
3
The apple doesn't far from the tree.
Marine Le Pen will never be president of France. But if the French political balance moves further toward the fringes in the next decade, her National Front could end up as a necessary partner in any right-wing coalition. In a more far-flung scenario, the National Front might elect so many more deputies than the conservatives that Le Pen couldn't be excluded as a serious candidate for prime minister. But the rules that govern national elections make this highly unlikely, because they are written to exclude the extremes of the political spectrum.
Today, Le Pen's strategy involves several elements: She aims to win greater support across the country, influence policy as an outsider, and build toward eventual National Front participation in an actual government. There is really no chance that the National Front will rule in France - and that's a very good thing.
Marine Le Pen will never be president of France. But if the French political balance moves further toward the fringes in the next decade, her National Front could end up as a necessary partner in any right-wing coalition. In a more far-flung scenario, the National Front might elect so many more deputies than the conservatives that Le Pen couldn't be excluded as a serious candidate for prime minister. But the rules that govern national elections make this highly unlikely, because they are written to exclude the extremes of the political spectrum.
Today, Le Pen's strategy involves several elements: She aims to win greater support across the country, influence policy as an outsider, and build toward eventual National Front participation in an actual government. There is really no chance that the National Front will rule in France - and that's a very good thing.
3
I would wager that Mr. Le Pen will be expelled from the party. He is stuck in the past and weighs down the organization with impulsive and inflammatory rhetoric that has diminishing appeal. Every leftist media figure uses his indiscretions to smear his daughter with guilt-by-association as if she were somehow responsible for whatever the elderly Mr. Le Pen has most recently said. The media will never allow her to distance herself from her father as long as he remains in the party.
The most disturbing thing about this article is that it appears she didn't disavow his comments, she just objected to them because they hurt her political career.
2
It is a tragedy that these parties exist, but unfortunately now they are thriving throughout Europe - in the UK, in France, in Belgium, in Switzerland, in Greece
It is too easy to conclude that 1/4 of the European population is racist. They are not. The problem is that there is nobody in the political system who represents their legitimate interests. People are facing real economic hardship and finding that none of the mainstream parties seems willing or able to do anything for them. They are desperate.
And so, while the simplistic "blame the foreigners" theories are false, nobody actually proposes alternative solutions to tackle poverty and crime, because they are too interested in protecting the well-being of the more affluent classes. The extremists target the poor working classes.
"At least," people think, "these right-wing parties listen to us and propose to do something." And so they vote for them.
Could this happen in the US? The levels of poverty, inequality and crime are actually worse than in much of Europe. But ironically, one of the very few benefits of the US's dysfunctional two-party system is that it makes it difficult for extremist parties to get a foothold. But we used to think the same about the UK ...
It is too easy to conclude that 1/4 of the European population is racist. They are not. The problem is that there is nobody in the political system who represents their legitimate interests. People are facing real economic hardship and finding that none of the mainstream parties seems willing or able to do anything for them. They are desperate.
And so, while the simplistic "blame the foreigners" theories are false, nobody actually proposes alternative solutions to tackle poverty and crime, because they are too interested in protecting the well-being of the more affluent classes. The extremists target the poor working classes.
"At least," people think, "these right-wing parties listen to us and propose to do something." And so they vote for them.
Could this happen in the US? The levels of poverty, inequality and crime are actually worse than in much of Europe. But ironically, one of the very few benefits of the US's dysfunctional two-party system is that it makes it difficult for extremist parties to get a foothold. But we used to think the same about the UK ...
3
You've just perfectly outlined Germany after WWI.
Now everywhere we have tea party type racists. I guess we always did and always will. There art a lot of haters out there who will blame anyone but themselves.
1
Too bad neither Marine Le Pen nor the article makes clear whether she finds her father's comments merely politically damaging or, more important, morally reprehensible. It is, after all, not simply political suicide to make such statements, it is also moral suicide, which is far graver.
2
Yikes!! The Petainists are back out of the woodwork. The elder Le Pen is 86 which meant he was an adolescent during the Vichy years of the National Revolution. That racism has been baked into his consciousness from that era when anti-semitism lurked in the hearts of many more Frenchmen than a small radical minority. The Vichy government carried out its own anti-Jewish program without too much encouragement from their German occupiers. An angry bitter old man - he should be put out to pasture.
1
Ironically, to understand the immense scope of Hitler's horrors, the Holocaust was a detail. Likely Hitler saw it that way himself. He was that bad. What we hear so much less about is Stalin's 20 million person "detail" Or Mao's one Holocaust per quarter "detail" during years of the Great Leap Forward. Mao's stated goal at the time was a billion person "detail" on the way to enlightening the world. Great century, the twentieth. Full of "details."
2
It's always interesting when someone brings up other murders during WWI, especially when it's always done to mitigate the attempted annihilation of an entire group of people based solely on their ethnicity. Of course there were political murders, as well as the targeting of "undesirables". But the targeting of the Jews (as well as the Roma) is unique. I'm unaware of France's collaboration with Stalin, please enlighten us. M. Le Pen's comments are based on his exoneration - actually, his CELEBRATION - of France's wartime activities. Stalin's atrocities are irrelevent in this context, because France was only involved in collaborating with one monster: Hitler.
2
Ms. Le Pen distanced herself from her father, because she thought his remarks would hurt her and her party's chances in an election. She did not disavow them.
2
The rise of the right in western Europe (not hard right as claimed by NYT at least under American standards since they are neither religious fundamentalists nor gun fetishists) is a symptom. The disease is the absolute refusal of the major parties, and not just the left and the loopy, to address certain issues. First and foremost, immigration and assimilation. Second, an inability to be creative, rather than dogmatic, in addressing institutional unemployment and the malaise of their middle classes. Third a suffocating list of politically correct verities which no person may question, challenge or even discuss, often but not exclusively dealing with gender, race, ethnicity, and class.
The new right, if they can purge the oddballs espousing anti-Semitism or a return of the Bourbons, or a forced expulsion of Muslims, should be allowed a place at the electoral table to take their chance with voters. It would be anti-progressive to do otherwise.
The new right, if they can purge the oddballs espousing anti-Semitism or a return of the Bourbons, or a forced expulsion of Muslims, should be allowed a place at the electoral table to take their chance with voters. It would be anti-progressive to do otherwise.
1
The oddballs espousing a return of the Bourbons are ...very few. Fewer are those longing for a return of the Valois.
A return to Napoleon is not to be seen either.
Anti-semitism in France is now basically rooted in over 50 % of muslim population.
A return to Napoleon is not to be seen either.
Anti-semitism in France is now basically rooted in over 50 % of muslim population.
What a family! It comes as no surprise that Jean-Marie Le Pen envies his daughter, Marine and begrudges her success. He feels outshone and wants to return to the limelight.
Now he is trying to pull the rug from under his daughter's feet, who may run for president, because he had run himself without success.
Now he is trying to pull the rug from under his daughter's feet, who may run for president, because he had run himself without success.
3
Imagine if Rand Paul splits with his father, Ron Paul!
5
Or Jeb from his father's donors.
2
Many far right parties - including the SVP in Switzerland - hope to harvest the votes of the fascist fringes but do not want to dirty their hands. I would not be surprised if Marine shares some of Papa's views, but realizes that he went too far for her to appeal to conservative main stream voters.
When you play with the dogs, you are likely to get bitten.
When you play with the dogs, you are likely to get bitten.
12
"Daughters are always so disappointing."
-King Lear
-King Lear
8
Especially if they are like Marine Le Pen.
8
You can't keep a good fascist down (or from opening his mouth).
11
Another possibility: father and daughter figure the best way to "legitimate" her is to denounce him after he says some broadly unacceptable things. Thus, this may be an arrangement they cooked up together.
16
Thank you, exactly.
Also why is the writer bending over backwards to paint Marine Le Pen as someone worthy of sympathy trying to "build a more mainstream party?" Where is the evidence she would pursue policies different from her father?
Also why is the writer bending over backwards to paint Marine Le Pen as someone worthy of sympathy trying to "build a more mainstream party?" Where is the evidence she would pursue policies different from her father?
14
What we are seeing here is that the father is still mired in anti-semitism and the hatreds of a by-gone era. The daughter has astutely realised that those can not be the basis of broader political appeal and that the far right needs to focus its hatred on Islam and Muslims instead to break out into the mainstream of politics. I predict she will have far greater political success than her father as Islamophobia is far more acceptable and fashionable in France than anti-semitism ever was since the end of WWII.
15
The condemnation by Ms. Le Pen is not of the thought of course, but of the expression.
13
Rightly so. I cannot know the thoughts of others until they express them. Are you a mind reader?
Thank you for your literal rendition. My intention, of course, was to point out that her criticism of her Father was not based on the fact he was a racist, but the fact he expressed it loudly and publicly. This may be too subtle for you.
2
Life can be hard for a right winger
When one's Papa lets out a zinger,
It's so hard to chide,
Smacks of patricide,
And gobbets of guilt often linger.
When one's Papa lets out a zinger,
It's so hard to chide,
Smacks of patricide,
And gobbets of guilt often linger.
12
It's like Rodney Dangerfield: "What're we gonna do with Pop?"
6
Why the French put up with such an overt anti-Semite is beyond me. "A detail in history"? The mere detail that a third of an ethnic group/religion's people were carefully wiped off the face of the planet in a few short years? That small detail?
I'm disgusted that he's been repeating this "detail" remark for 28 years and he still hasn't been publicly shamed into silenced.
I'm disgusted that he's been repeating this "detail" remark for 28 years and he still hasn't been publicly shamed into silenced.
25
France has a considerable history of Jew-hating and outright antisemitism. (I make a distinction between these; the former is everyday bigotry while the latter is a prelude to mass murder.) The Dreyfus Affair (which was among many other things the direct stimulus for the birth of the Zionist movement) was little more than a century ago and the Vichy government played a shameful part in aiding the deportation of french Jews to the "detail" of the death camps. There has never been a true reckoning for this in France...unlike the case in Germany where the crimes have been acknowledged and great effort made to atone.
42
Agreed, although I have a clarifying point with regards to the roots of Zionism: with the Dreyfus Affair and Herzl, Herzl was having a private epiphany while a small number of Jews--almost entirely from the Russian Empire--were going to Eretz Yisrael (Palestine). Herzl was completely unaware that what became known as the First Aliyah was going on.
France is a complicated country when it comes to its relationship with Jews. France is considered the birthplace of the philosophy of human rights, and it was the first country to extend full civil rights to Jews. And despite what a casual observer of history might think, Italian immigrants, not Jews, were the most despised minority in 19th century France (although Jews certainly did experience plenty of attacks). Yet France's darkest period is the Second World War because many French people did nothing to help their neighbors or actively cooperated with the Germans or Vichy government. I think because WWII was the darkest time, some people, like Le Pen, feel better if they just try to repeat that the genocide was "a detail".
France is a complicated country when it comes to its relationship with Jews. France is considered the birthplace of the philosophy of human rights, and it was the first country to extend full civil rights to Jews. And despite what a casual observer of history might think, Italian immigrants, not Jews, were the most despised minority in 19th century France (although Jews certainly did experience plenty of attacks). Yet France's darkest period is the Second World War because many French people did nothing to help their neighbors or actively cooperated with the Germans or Vichy government. I think because WWII was the darkest time, some people, like Le Pen, feel better if they just try to repeat that the genocide was "a detail".
17
Le Pen thinks every word he pronounces, not out of any bad conscience...just because it is what he really thinks.
As for the fate of Jews here during WWII...the ordeal of obviously too many of them should not conceal the fact that thousands of Jewish children were saved by country folks who did take risks. This latter fact itself should not be used to forget the former.
As for the fate of Jews here during WWII...the ordeal of obviously too many of them should not conceal the fact that thousands of Jewish children were saved by country folks who did take risks. This latter fact itself should not be used to forget the former.
1
There is a significant difference between the Front National and American right-wing parties that is not noted here.
While the American right wing wants to tear our social safety net to shreds, the FN supports the generous social supports that French citizens receive.
French culture is relatively communitarian. Meanwhile, American culture venerates the "self-sufficient" individual, who never asks anything of anybody and never deigns to help those in need.
As for the future of a country (ours) filled with so many selfish people, Benjamin Franklin said it best: "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
While the American right wing wants to tear our social safety net to shreds, the FN supports the generous social supports that French citizens receive.
French culture is relatively communitarian. Meanwhile, American culture venerates the "self-sufficient" individual, who never asks anything of anybody and never deigns to help those in need.
As for the future of a country (ours) filled with so many selfish people, Benjamin Franklin said it best: "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
49
True...
but just very lately true. Ten years ago, the FN was basically right winged the American way.
Marine le Pen socially conscious speech is just opportunistic...and blends very well with the hatred of immigrants when they are Muslims...true too some of the latter help.
but just very lately true. Ten years ago, the FN was basically right winged the American way.
Marine le Pen socially conscious speech is just opportunistic...and blends very well with the hatred of immigrants when they are Muslims...true too some of the latter help.
1
I think the most significant difference is that they speak French and we barely speak English.
Someone explain to me what a 'more moderate far right party' is.
35
I was wondering the same. It seems to mean parties whose officials don't go on the record with comments about putting people in ovens.
18
Although called a "far right" party, the FN in France is certainly far away from the right wing of American politics. Apart from their extreme anti-immigration position the FN has a number of other policies which are perhaps more usually associated with the left, such as state-intervention in the economy, trade protectionism, pro-choice and so on. On other issues they are closer to US right wing views like law-and-order, gay marriage, pulling out of international institustions etc
The problem is once you deny and dishevel truth, the moral compass is unwound and all evidence and facts are pushed over as they become inconvenient. This is happening with the old man; he sees only the images surrounding him in his looking glass, truth long ago faded into a reconstructed world where race and lies are cherished, and those who challenge his version of triumph and perfection and suspicion are diminished by the dame forces of denial.
Rightist parties have no means of progress. They are ever revising a Golden Age of privilege and power, unable to move on. Some become savvy. But in the old man's looking glass, he had no need for wiles.
Rightist parties have no means of progress. They are ever revising a Golden Age of privilege and power, unable to move on. Some become savvy. But in the old man's looking glass, he had no need for wiles.
24
The same thing has happened with the American Republican Party: race and lies are cherished. Language is turned on its back, so hate becomes "religious freedom."
The Republicans have no real proposals for us to meet our needs for the 21st century.
Maybe Jean-Marine Le Pen would be the perfect GOP presidential candidate here--if he can get over the barrier of his citizenship?
The Republicans have no real proposals for us to meet our needs for the 21st century.
Maybe Jean-Marine Le Pen would be the perfect GOP presidential candidate here--if he can get over the barrier of his citizenship?
1
Like all fascist parties trying to lure the mainstream, I guess the FN leadership is hoping for its own night of long knives. That is the next step correct? First, the night of the long knives, then seeking and gaining legitimacy by the mainstream, global community, then the Kristalnacht, then the catastrophe.
23
France has its own AIPAC in the form of CRIF to which the French political elite all genuflect.
Criticism of this outsized influence is absolutely reasonable, particularly as Jewish groups in France, as in the US and UK, essentially act as advocates for Israel's preferred policies.
Reasonable, and obviously so, even if politically incorrect.
But this guy is saying things so unreasonable and absurd you have to wonder, almost, if he's either senile, or deliberately trying to destroy a party which, if we're being honest, it attacked most of all for suggesting that the ethnic French have a right to control immigration to their homeland.
That is really what most of the fuss is about with that party.
Calling them anti-Semitic for criticizing Israel and Israel lobby's influence is par for the course. The few individuals who say things as crazy as Mr. Le Pen simply allow reporters and the Israel Lobby to all the more easily employ their favorite device when they don't want to actually address a political position:
the Ad Hominem Tu Quoque.
Criticism of this outsized influence is absolutely reasonable, particularly as Jewish groups in France, as in the US and UK, essentially act as advocates for Israel's preferred policies.
Reasonable, and obviously so, even if politically incorrect.
But this guy is saying things so unreasonable and absurd you have to wonder, almost, if he's either senile, or deliberately trying to destroy a party which, if we're being honest, it attacked most of all for suggesting that the ethnic French have a right to control immigration to their homeland.
That is really what most of the fuss is about with that party.
Calling them anti-Semitic for criticizing Israel and Israel lobby's influence is par for the course. The few individuals who say things as crazy as Mr. Le Pen simply allow reporters and the Israel Lobby to all the more easily employ their favorite device when they don't want to actually address a political position:
the Ad Hominem Tu Quoque.
8
Jean-Marie Le Pen isn't classified as anti-Semitic because he criticizes Israel, if indeed he does, which is not clear at all, but because he is a classic anti-Semite. He doesn't hate Israel. He just hates Jews. If he does hate Israel it is only because it is full of Jews. The French government doesn't support Israel because of the small French Jewish community, but for purely French reasons, including the shadow of complicity in the treatment of French Jews during WW II. You sir, are also a classic anti-Semite mouthing the classic anti-Semitic line that Jews control everything sub rosa. Hitler couldn't have said it better.
38
Thank you Publius for calling out Mike D!!! Unfortunately, there are a lot of Mike D.s that write to the NYT.
1
I have to disagree with you on two points: The "small" Jewish community in France is still the third in the world after Israel and the US.
Your analysis that France is not supporting Israel because it's not facing its responsibilities in WWII is deeply chocking!. Almost every French family still have a strong and recent history linked to the war and this is a very painful memory for a lot of people. So if you want to know the reason for the lack of support to Israel, search it more in Israel's policy.
For the rest, I agree with you on the profound paranoia of the previous comment.
Your analysis that France is not supporting Israel because it's not facing its responsibilities in WWII is deeply chocking!. Almost every French family still have a strong and recent history linked to the war and this is a very painful memory for a lot of people. So if you want to know the reason for the lack of support to Israel, search it more in Israel's policy.
For the rest, I agree with you on the profound paranoia of the previous comment.
The family values party?
7
Mrs. Windsor has Phillip, Hillary has Bill, Ms. lePen has her "cher papa". Every family has its albatross.
5
Unlike her father, she has support from other minorities interested in promoting islamophobia.
"Anti-Immigrant Le Pen Finds Rising Jewish Support in France
Opinion polls like Ifop show Cukierman’s comments reflect a growing reality. Between the last two presidential elections in 2007 and 2012, Jewish voters supporting the FN, the party’s acronym, more than tripled. The shift came after Marine Le Pen took over the helm in 2011, steering clear of her party-founder father Jean-Marie Le Pen’s anti-Semitic stance. In a comment to Bloomberg on the side lines of a conference in Paris Tuesday, Marine Le Pen made common cause with France’s Jews. "
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-24/anti-immigrant-le-pen-...
"Anti-Immigrant Le Pen Finds Rising Jewish Support in France
Opinion polls like Ifop show Cukierman’s comments reflect a growing reality. Between the last two presidential elections in 2007 and 2012, Jewish voters supporting the FN, the party’s acronym, more than tripled. The shift came after Marine Le Pen took over the helm in 2011, steering clear of her party-founder father Jean-Marie Le Pen’s anti-Semitic stance. In a comment to Bloomberg on the side lines of a conference in Paris Tuesday, Marine Le Pen made common cause with France’s Jews. "
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-24/anti-immigrant-le-pen-...
8
I see. So Marine is harvesting the votes of Jews concerned about Muslim immigration to France. So Holocaust denial is a No-No. Thank you for this, that's very helpful.
10
"Unlike her father, she has support from other minorities interested in promoting islamophobia."
You state this and quote from an article that discusses rising Jewish support for Marine Le Pen. The article you quote goes on to say that a small minority of Jews support Le Pen, out of insecurity and because some feel abandoned by left wing parties. The Jews of France are more concerned about being able to live in peace as Jews, without being attacked by Islamists and other haters. Only someone who truly dislikes Jews would turn this logic upside down and claim that Jews in France are interested in promoting Islamophobia.
You state this and quote from an article that discusses rising Jewish support for Marine Le Pen. The article you quote goes on to say that a small minority of Jews support Le Pen, out of insecurity and because some feel abandoned by left wing parties. The Jews of France are more concerned about being able to live in peace as Jews, without being attacked by Islamists and other haters. Only someone who truly dislikes Jews would turn this logic upside down and claim that Jews in France are interested in promoting Islamophobia.
10
Mixing politics and soap operas is entertaining until the political part starts to gain power, at which point it loses the ability to get away with stuff that formerly would have been left to the supermarket tabloids.
Political movements organized around a family either learn to manage their public relations -- e.g. Bush, Kennedy, and Gandhi clans -- or they descend into farce.
Political movements organized around a family either learn to manage their public relations -- e.g. Bush, Kennedy, and Gandhi clans -- or they descend into farce.
7
Men Mr. Le Pen's age have lower serotonin and dopamine levels. When you add chronic mental illness to aging you have someone who lacks all emotional controls. Ms Le Pen should have her father humanly institutionalized for his own good. He is just a sad, demented old man, who will never have the political power he wanted all of his life. There is some justice in his complete decline.
19
He is saying the same things now that he has said for forty years. He is not suffering from new dementia. He has always been an anti-Semite, and is not changing his views as he ages.
Le Pen isn't "descending into a strategy," as this translation has it. He is just old and losing his discretion and thus blurting out what he has been thinking the whole time but rarely articulating. Namely, that he is an awful racist and antiSemite.
France should be ashamed of the persistence of National Front, as many of us in America are continually ashamed by the racist, sexist, evolution and climate-change denying knuckle-draggers in our own far right.
France should be ashamed of the persistence of National Front, as many of us in America are continually ashamed by the racist, sexist, evolution and climate-change denying knuckle-draggers in our own far right.
43
"Under Ms. Le Pen, who took over the party in 2011, the National Front has moved away from constant anti-immigrant talk to developing policies on a range of subjects from banking to education."
Possibly, but beneath the thin veneer of political sophistication (everything is relative) it still remains their raison d'etre. I'm sure this must make it all very uncomfortable to be reminded of this.
Possibly, but beneath the thin veneer of political sophistication (everything is relative) it still remains their raison d'etre. I'm sure this must make it all very uncomfortable to be reminded of this.
26
It's funny how when one lives by the politics of exclusion such is also the fate of their important relationships.
10
This strikes me as good news, comparatively. After the Charlie Hebdo massacre, I'd actually expected France's Nazi party (or whatever their name for it is) to gain ground and belligerence. Nothing like an outside threat to make people filled with hate for anything non-local.
Having Ms. Le Pen, clearly the future of the party where her father is the past, break with the more racist and inflammatory statements, bodes well for French politics generally. I'd still rather not see her get elected President or anything, but if the National Front isn't declaring war on all non-Christians or non-Aryans or whatnot, that's better than the alternative.
So I applaud this repudiation of blind hatred, hope it gains momentum.
Having Ms. Le Pen, clearly the future of the party where her father is the past, break with the more racist and inflammatory statements, bodes well for French politics generally. I'd still rather not see her get elected President or anything, but if the National Front isn't declaring war on all non-Christians or non-Aryans or whatnot, that's better than the alternative.
So I applaud this repudiation of blind hatred, hope it gains momentum.
9
I would disagree. A mask of reasonableness could actually give the party some power while their true beliefs would once again be revealed once they gained office.
Just as I'd prefer the Republicans to run some ultra-conservative Tea Party candidate instead of someone who seems reasonable on the surface (since the seemingly reasonable candidate could actually win), I think it's better for France if the National Front always displayed its true colors.
Get Ms. Le Pen drunk and see what she says. My bet is that statements similar to her father's spew out. And if not, maybe she is just a far-right conservative and not an anti-Semitic racist.
As for Mr. Le Pen, he's simply a very angry, paranoid and sad man.
Just as I'd prefer the Republicans to run some ultra-conservative Tea Party candidate instead of someone who seems reasonable on the surface (since the seemingly reasonable candidate could actually win), I think it's better for France if the National Front always displayed its true colors.
Get Ms. Le Pen drunk and see what she says. My bet is that statements similar to her father's spew out. And if not, maybe she is just a far-right conservative and not an anti-Semitic racist.
As for Mr. Le Pen, he's simply a very angry, paranoid and sad man.
3
Priceless. Marine should give Rand Paul a call. Well, her father *is* 86, after all. What are curmudgeonly fathers for? But it sounds like, just as here, the Right has to become more liberal to survive.
Hey, maybe Marine could get quick citizenship here and enter the GOP primaries. Cruz is from Canada. She's the woman whom they seek.
Hey, maybe Marine could get quick citizenship here and enter the GOP primaries. Cruz is from Canada. She's the woman whom they seek.
13