The second round in the election for the Presidency of France will be between Conservative incumbent President Jacque Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen who is the leader of the National Front party which is and whom the International Herald Tribune hysterically calls "the rightist extremist who has run on racially divisive platforms for three decades."
Lionel Jospin, who is the Socialist Prime Minister, was expected to come in second but, as he came in third he will not make the runoff.
Le Pen represents the Patrick Buchanan wing of French politics. He is described by the AP as a man who "virulently opposes immigration" and, according to the BBC, "In 1987 he described the holocaust as a 'detail of history.'"
Here's the point: There is a feeling, largely among members of the national press corps and Ralph Nader, that the way to improve politics in America is to continue to weaken the two major parties. Here's what the International Herald Tribune wrote in its table-setter to yesterday's vote:
"Much of the first round's interest was focused on the performance of extremist candidates of the left and right, who, taken as a group, could outpoll either Chirac or Jospin . . . At the far right, Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front candidacy is credited with up to 14 percent in some polls, which would be a third-place finish. [He ended up with nearly 18 percent and came in second.]
"Three Trotskyist candidates behind an unrelenting vocabulary of confrontation and class struggle could get a combined 10 percent or more. Together, the extremes are likely to cut into the totals of Chirac and Jospin."
The Financial Times, wrote of Jospin's third-place finish: "[M]ost French socialists � attributed Mr. Jospin's loss of ground to the proliferation of minor candidates�"
A young woman described as a "22-year-old international relations student and socialist party militant" warned, "Within days you will see all the country's democrats taking to the streets."
We assume this means that Paris will be the next top on the International Goofball Tour as soon as those who have been demonstrating in Washington, DC this weekend can make their travel arrangements.
This, then, is the direction the good government types want American politics to go. I. Don't. Think. So.
Have you noticed the new promos for MSNBC? I thought the nearly hysterical voice proclaiming the second coming of Phil Donahue belonged to the guy who does the ads for those plastic bags that you attach to a vacuum cleaner and you can put the entire contents of your three-room apartment into the overhead on a 737.
Not so. According to the E! website: "MSNBC has enlisted former Twisted Sister front man and razor-toothed drag queen Dee Snider to become the cable news network's official voiceover guy."
Maybe this is a generational thing, but � America's News Channel? Twisted Sister? I. Don't. Think. So.
On the other end of the continuum, NASCAR knows its audience. I happened to catch the beginning of yesterday's Talladega 500. For the playing of the national anthem did they have some cute girls sitting on the back seat of an Infinity convertible waving little flags? I. Don't. Think. So.
They had the tractor-end of a big, honking semi with a gigantic American flag mounted where the trailer would be, tearing around the track while some country artist belted out the Star Spangled Banner the way it's supposed to be sung.
Here's a conversation which will not take place anywhere on this continent: "Well, Pumpkin, where would you like to go this weekend: Paris for the pro-Socialist rally? Or the California Speedway for the Napa Auto Parts 500?"
Robert Blake: His last movie credit was the 1997 blockbuster "Lost Highway" in which was made up to look like Bela Lugosi and was billed only as "Mystery Man". Not exactly at the top of his game.
Assuming women were not following him around Hollywood, trying to rip away his clothing, screaming "We loved you in 'Monkey Mission,'" here's my question: Did Robert Blake really need a bodyguard?
I. Don't. Think. So.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today, links to the E! article, the French elections, and the demonstrations in Washington. As well as the usual stuff.
If you are working at a lobbying firm, a government affairs office, a coalition, or a PAC you should take a
look at this page to see how advertising in Mullings might serve your organization very well:
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