I Missed the Royal Debate...

[Tresco]

I've seen all the debates up to now, but I stupidly missed this one, all but the final answer which seemed to be Sego saying she would cut down on the extravagances of Government costs relating to entertaining and such things.

So, if any LFers saw it, and would like to give their views on how Sego did, I would be grateful.

No doubt it will turn up on Youtube at some point, and her performance will be picked over in the press, but I'm interested in what different people here thought, especially (but not exclusively) if you saw the other candidates too.

 

[Cerise]

She looked great - but I felt she was waffling.  Also no real idea how she was going to put some of her stranger sounding ideas - internat in the poorer banlieus for both parents and children for example - into practice.  She kep saying 'win, win situation' - gagnant, gagnant, every 2 minutes which I found very irritating.

[yorky]

Looking at press reports it was just another free beer for all the workers promise without telling where it would come from.

Yorky

[Cat]

Pants!  I knew there was something I meant to record last night.

I had watched the other two with Sarkozy and Le Pen, and wanted to watch the one last night to see if Segolene had any real substance to her, other than the ability to look pretty and smile a lot.

I thought that Sarkozy came over rather well on the first one, despite not liking the man or his politics, I could see how voters could be seduced by him.  He was calm and unflusterable (???) and took time to answer questions even when PPdA tried to steer him away. 

Jean-Marie was awful to watch, despite all his efforts to prove that he was a sane and reasonable human being, it was as if he was remembering all that his advisers had drummed into him and was trying to put across his best side, the "new-improved-Le-Pen" .  Despite, or perhaps because of this, many French people here were impressed by him, and thought that he spoke a lot of sense.  I find that very worrying indeed.

I may be a bit naive about politics, but it does seem that France needs a strong leader, willing to make sweeping changes, and that Sarkozy or Le Pen may well seem to be the men for the job.  Around here Sarkozy doesn't seem to be terribly popular, even if people don't know (or won't say) who they will be voting for, they do say that they won't be voting Sarko.

Does anyone know if  Bayrou will be doing one of these programs, as I'd be very interested in what he has to say?

Also, some Friends were saying last night that it is now too late for Chirac to announce his candidature, is this true?

[Tresco]

Thanks. I'll read the press, but wanted LFers views to get started. [:)]

Bayrou is on next week, Cat.

Why isn't Sarkozy being criticised for not declaring how the spending he's promised will be funded.?

 

 

[yorky]

It's quite simple, he's not going to give free beer to all the workers and he's going to cut benefits by 50%. Ban trade unions and meeting of more than 4 people. Fire 70% of the civil servants. Tax all immigrants on all their assets except people who have specific businesses employing more than 5 french people. All this sound quite reasonable to me.

Yorky  

[Tresco]

Well, what a silly sausage you turned out to be, Yorky.

Aplogies to any slightly more sensible sausage who might read this.

[RumziGal]

Is "sensible sausage" not an oxymoron? 

And why is there not a proper adjective meaning "sausage-like"?

Sausageous? 

If you had a very wise sausage you could say "that soss-sage is so sage".

[Teamedup]

My friend and  her mother saw Sego hier. The mother started the conversation about it, asking if any of us had seen it, so no prompting from me.

Mother and daughter thought that Sego, that is what they called her, was wonderful. She answered the questions and was artuculate and didn't get rattled. Both women were obviously very very impressed.

Then they went onto Sarko.The general feeling was that Sarko had answered questions with questions and was agressive.

And then 'the mother' said the following, the french are misanthropes and won't vote for a woman. (TU simply observed and I didn't even suggest that maybe she meant misogynist.) The daughter added that Sego was considered  a femmette and french people are more impressed with Sarko's agressive nature. Sego was just perceived as trop molle.

I didn't really say anything, I often just listen.

I left wondering what is going to happen. IF enough people feel like my friend and her mother, then surely they will vote Sego, so she will be voted in.

 

Tresco that is all I can tell you as I didn't see it. My friends did say that there were too many political things on tv at the moment and had had enough.

 

 

 

[Tresco]

Thanks. It's all helping me get a better picture.

As far as I can gather, she exceeded expectations, but it hasn't made much difference to the number of people who say they will vote for her.

That said, if France is 'behind' the UK in many ways by 20 years, as is is often proposed, perhaps there are a lot of women saying they will vote one way, but intending to vote another.[;-)] My mother did that for many years.

Other people (both here and in reports/blogs etc.) have said Royal was a bit repetitive about the 'being a woman' thing, and that it was irritating, but that she was confident, and answered questions well, after a slightly shaky start.

There was a poster once who said they thought her reputation as molle was mistaken, and that she 'sleeps in the knife drawer'. I remember those words being used, but I can't find the thread. It always intrigued me, what the poster meant by that, but as it was before she was nominated as the Socialist Party candidate, perhaps he meant that with regard to all the elephants she had to contend with in her own party.

That reminds me, the elephants; are there just PS elephants, or does it refer to all established older men, in other political parties?

 

 

 

 

 

[Teamedup]

Ah yes, my friends mother said that in spite of appearances Sego was very tough. How could she have got so far if she wasn't.

 

[Tresco]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

Ah yes, my friends mother said that in spite of appearances Sego was very tough. How could she have got so far if she wasn't.[/quote]

She's made that point quite forcibly. In that way she is rightfully shaming the establishment of her own party.

She's also right in saying that she is being judged very differently to her male contemporaries. As you know I have been fascinated by Sarozy since I arrived here, and he has made so many verbal 'gaffes' that he has re-phrased (or weasled) out of. I'm quite impressed by the way he does it. She needs to catch up with him in that respect.

 Or does she? [;-)]

There is nothing new in politicians mis-speaking, (and people taking it all so seriously), or not knowing something...often something hardly anyone knows (like how many nuclear subs France has), apart from Bill Clinton, who really did know and understand minutae.

I always find it mildly amusing when someone who is supposed to be about big ideas, and leadership, get's pulled into questionas about smaller things. What are political assistants/advisors for? There are enough of them, that's for sure.

Remember George Bush and his not knowing the name of the leader in Pakistan?.

All that said, I am not convinced by Royal, her big ideas seem to be small. Sarkozy is no better.

 

[Teamedup]

Another comment this afternoon was, why does anyone listen to them anyway. Chirac didn't keep one of his election promises and as politicians never do, what is the point.

Have you seen this:-

http://sarkostique.over-blog.com/article-4026095.html

 

It did make me smile.

[Tresco]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

Another comment this afternoon was, why does anyone listen to them anyway. Chirac didn't keep one of his election promises and as politicians never do, what is the point.

Have you seen this:-

http://sarkostique.over-blog.com/article-4026095.html

[/quote]

Hee hee, TU! There's a forum there, with quite funny people on it. Get in there!

Did you see the thing about impeachment - the possibility of it being written into law that the Prez can be impeached?

I'm too tired (lazy) to find it again, but thought it was ironic for JC to countenance it, (after promising it so many years ago) two days before they all 'retire' to let the election campaigns gather pace.

[Tony F Dordogne]

Saw a bit on the tele about SR last evening.  She was ten points behind Sarko at the weekend but after her tele performance was on equal footing and if the run-off was held now, she'd beat him by two points (data from a serious French newspaper).

But, her economics advisor jumped ship last week and yesterday held a press conference in which he said she had no real policies, hadn't yet come up with any real policies and she was uncommunicative and he then resigned from the PS - saves them booting him out I suppose!

It seems that she's now projecting herself as a Marianne figure, sort of an 'I'm mother France' figure, everybody's aunt as Mitterand was everybody's uncle.  And Sarko is, of course, everybody's worse nightmare .

 

 

[yorky]

Ladbrokes don't think so Sarko 2/1 Royal 6/4. Of course you might want to put your money on a also ran loser.

Yorky