# Are the French Conservatives "going American"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419 "2011-04-06T17:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![\_mostly\_Harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/9d8465/32.png) [@\_mostly\_Harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_mostly_Harmless)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419/21 "2011-04-09T05:18:09Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Are you fucking joking me? Nope. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > You have to be an American Conservative to talk about them or have an opinion on them?! By the way, the question was exactly what is the reasoning the French right is having here? So, it was, from the start, a question about the motives, what I was describing is the behavior. That’s not exactly what I was saying. And you’re right; it _is_ about the French. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > And if you cant see how incredibly antagonistic American Conservatives have been for a few years now, I cant miraculously correct eyesight through the internet. Antagonistic? No, I really don’t see it. I’ve seen politicians (on both sides) say things to try to score political points but they _all_ do that. We may not like it but it’s here to stay. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > It’s pretty clear that in both the cases of France and the US, I am talking about the politicians, not the voters. > And the point wasnt that the French right has been tapping into the Front National’s ideological cesspool, but that the head of the French equivalent of the Conservatives is comparing the Socialists with the Nazis just because they plan on using some kind of voter files to set up their primaries. That coming from a guy who thought the French Socialists were disgusting to see antisemitism in any way in an attack on Strauss Khan’s unFrenchness. Okay, that’s a fair point. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Sorry, but that reminds me exactly of what the Republicans have been doing ever since Obama became President (“he’s a Socialist”, “he’s Kenyan”, and on and on). That kind of attack was (and I hope, still is) considered totally out of place in French politics. And any French citizen would see it as a totally transparent bad faith attack, sullying way more the attacker than its intended target. > … WHO is saying this about Obama? So far the only people I’ve heard bring up the ‘Kenyan’ thing are the Left in the media who won’t let it go. I haven’t heard a mainstream right-wing politician talk about the President’s race or heritage. They’ve all been too busy trying to get the government to stop spending more than it takes in. These kinds of attacks would be considered totally out of place and in bad faith in American politics too. We’re not really all that different. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419/22 "2011-04-09T11:38:18Z")
> [@\_mostly\_Harmless](#): > > WHO is saying this about Obama? So far the only people I’ve heard bring up the ‘Kenyan’ thing are the Left in the media who won’t let it go. I haven’t heard a mainstream right-wing politician talk about the President’s race or heritage. They’ve all been too busy trying to get the government to stop spending more than it takes in. These kinds of attacks would be considered totally out of place and in bad faith in American politics too. We’re not really all that different. Bullshit. United States Senators [Richard Shelby (R-AL)](http://www.cullmantimes.com/breakingnews/x1116141508/UPDATE-Shelby-comments-draw-fire-nationally) and [David Vitter (R-LA)](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/vitter-i-support-birther-lawsuits-video.php); U.S. Representatives [Michele Bachmann (R-MN)](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51245.html#ixzz1Ghinodu3), [Roy Blunt (R-MO)](http://washingtonindependent.com/53127/and-now-roy-blunt), and [Nathan Deal (R-GA)](http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2009/11/05/nathan-deal-says-hell-ask-for-barack-obamas-birth-certificate/); and former GOP elected officials turned pundits (and potential Presidential candidates) [Newt Gingrich](http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/246302/gingrich-obama-s-kenyan-anti-colonial-worldview-robert-costa), [Mike Huckabee](http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/huckabee-questions-obama-birth-certificate-claims-he-was-raised-in-kenya/), and [Sarah Palin](http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Palin_Obama_birth_certificate_a_fair_question.html?showall) have all flirted with this shit. (Not to mention [The Donald](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601085).) Newt’s comments don’t directly bring up the birth certificate issue, but he did burble on about Obama having a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview, which is damned sure bringing up the President’s “Kenyan heritage”. Mind you, most of them have tried to have it both ways with the Birther bullshit–“I’m just asking questions here” tap-dancing–so as to be able to court the true believing lunatic fringe while trying not to _completely_ cut themselves off from the mainstream realm of sanity. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419/23 "2011-04-09T15:54:58Z")
It may surprise some Americans, but to us outside all this Hitler comparison is beyond bizarre. I, for one, don’t know what to think, most of the rest of the world have found ways to berate their politicians without going _there_. Og knows our politicians (Dominicans) are scum, but they are definitely not anywhere near the vicinity of Hitler. As for questioning the nationality of a candidate based on race, we’ve done that. It was so shameful that I voted for a politician I mainly disliked because I thought it was a shame. He lost, through the political maneuvering of an old ass, but it was obvious that the vast majority of us rejected the accusations. At least we managed not to compare him to Hitler. Phew! So yeah, if I hear any of our politicians pulling that crap I will be VERY surprised (and alarmed), and possibly asking the same things as the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419/24 "2011-04-09T16:00:48Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > It may surprise some Americans, but to us outside all this Hitler comparison is beyond bizarre. I, for one, don’t know what to think, most of the rest of the world have found ways to berate their politicians without going _there_. > > Og knows our politicians (Dominicans) are scum, but they are definitely not anywhere near the vicinity of Hitler. You know who else never went so far as to compare his political opponents with Hitler ? Hitler, that’s who. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419/25 "2011-04-09T16:01:34Z")
Stupid Firefox crashed on me. Anyway, yeah, I get what the OP means. France had a reputation for racial tolerance, way to crap on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-french-conservatives-going-american/577419.md?page=1)