# French Presidential Election, 2017
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [March 3, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294 "2017-03-03T14:29:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/141 "2017-05-06T16:13:37Z")
> [@Ramira](#):
>
> What is the very strange is the great interest by the anglophone far right in the French politics,
Really? I’d say that with Le Pen as a candidate, the whole of Europe - left, right, and centre, regardless of language - is interested.
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/142 "2017-05-06T16:19:25Z")
I have zero use for Marine LePen, and don’t blame Obama for endorsing Macron.
But… just whom does Obama imagine he’s going to sway?
ANYONE who’s considering voting for LePen is, by definition, uneasy about globalism, concerned that international elitists are trying to deprive them of their culture, that their leaders are more concerned about foreign opinion than THEIR opinions. In short, people fearful that the France they know and love is disappearing.
How would the endorsement of ONE of those foreign elites win over such a person?
I asked a similar question back in 2004 when Richard Dawkins tried to appeal to “undecided” Americans to vote for Kerry. What the Hell made Dawkins think HIS opinion would matter to any undecided American? A typical undecided American was someone who was either…
1. Conservative on religious/social issues but fearful about what Bush was doing to the economy, or
2. A businessperson who liked low taxes and lax regulation, but was uncomfortable with the Religious Right.
Either way, what could Dawkins have to say that would win over either type of undecided voter?
---
### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/143 "2017-05-06T16:38:56Z")
> [@octopus](#):
>
> Meddling is meddling. People have had their lives ruined with secretly recorded video. Why should people expect any privacy nowadays? Act and communicate as if you are being recorded and embarrassing email leaks won’t occur.
Dude, have you still learned nothing from Climategate?
---
### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/144 "2017-05-06T16:42:51Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> I have zero use for Marine LePen, and don’t blame Obama for endorsing Macron.
>
> But… just whom does Obama imagine he’s going to sway?
>
> …
He may be merely trying to drum up participaton, and not necessarily sway LePen supporters. He’s well aware that a little more participation in the U.S.'s last election might have made a difference.
---
### Author:  [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/145 "2017-05-06T17:32:28Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> But… just whom does Obama imagine he’s going to sway?
A certain segment of the French centrist tendency.
And he is well known.
> [@](#):
>
> I asked a similar question back in 2004 when Richard Dawkins tried to appeal to “undecided” Americans to vote for Kerry. What the Hell made Dawkins think HIS opinion would matter to any undecided American? A typical undecided American was someone who was either…
Do americans outside of this message board have any idea who this person is?
I can assure you, all French people know who Mr Obama is, and he is widely well liked
The Frontists, they are not the audience.
---
### Author:  [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/146 "2017-05-06T17:34:49Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> Really? I’d say that with Le Pen as a candidate, the whole of Europe - left, right, and centre, regardless of language - is interested.
The American far right is not well known for having any great interest in the European elections or anything but Rah Rah Americna Number 1… Nor is your British far right known for its great attention to these things.
To have the right wing anglophone trolls actively engaging, it smells.
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/147 "2017-05-06T19:11:25Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> I’ve got to admit to some bemusement about this complaint. A leak aimed at French people who live in France and speak a language called French that is intended to affect an election in France. Released in French. THE HORROR!
I was hoping for Swahili or Urdu, myself.
---
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/148 "2017-05-06T20:09:22Z")
> [@Ramira](#):
>
> To have the right wing anglophone trolls actively engaging, it smells.
Sorry, not buying it. There have long been associations between the various European ultra-right, so ‘stuff’ is entirely normal.
---
### Author:  [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/149 "2017-05-06T20:16:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I was hoping for Swahili or Urdu, myself.
Also, how hard can it be to translate into English?
---
### Author:  [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/150 "2017-05-06T21:18:43Z")
Here in the UK the far right are interested in the French vote because they hope it will cause the EU to collapse.
---
### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/151 "2017-05-06T22:52:05Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> We don’t care because
> (A) (contrary to the opinions of the French people) France is a country that just doesn’t matter very much in the world; and
> (B) regardless of which political party is in power, France has shown a pretty consistent anti-American, anti-capitalistic bias for the last 40-50 years. Literally about the only thing that they’ve managed to get right is their attitude towards nuclear power.
>
> Furthermore, France itself was pretty strongly anti-NATO for a long time.
My French nationalist/national Right acquaintance on FB would have absolutely destroyed you on this point.
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/152 "2017-05-07T11:37:17Z")
Agree with the pile-on.
Yes, mainstream US Republicans ignore France or make jokes (e.g. “freedom fries”) at its expense. Hardcore authoritarian or racial purity rightists are much more international in their interests. Any country going their way is good news. Although they’d sure prefer that their own country lead the way.
The good news in all this is it implies our poster isn’t one of those dangerous anti-civilization guys.
---
### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/153 "2017-05-07T11:54:27Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> Furthermore, France itself was pretty strongly anti-NATO for a long time.
De Gaulle as President withdrew from the unified military command, not from NATO.
Partly a matter of sovereignty (you know, what le Pen’s supporters are so keen on, and one of the themes that Putin is trying to encourage in order to break up Western cohesion), but also both de Gaulle personally (because of Roosevelt’s suspicion of him in WW2) and the French political establishment (above all the nationalist right - the kind of historical political strand Le Pen and her father come from) remembered what happened in the US Congress to the tripartite defence agreement of 1919, alongside the Versailles Treaty. They drew the lesson that the US interpretation of its national interests couldn’t necessarily be relied upon as a consistent basis of French defence.
---
### Author:  [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/154 "2017-05-07T17:51:49Z")
> [@Ramira](#):
>
> The American far right is not well known for having any great interest in the European elections or anything but Rah Rah Americna Number 1… Nor is your British far right known for its great attention to these things.
>
> To have the right wing anglophone trolls actively engaging, it smells.
[NY Times: U.S. Far-Right Activists Promote Hacking Attack Against Macron](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-hack-french-election-marine-le-pen.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0)
The new Nazis.
> [@](#):
>
> After months of trying to move the political needle in favor of Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election, American far-right activists on Saturday threw their weight behind a hacking attack against her rival, Emmanuel Macron, hoping to cast doubt on an election that is pivotal to France and the wider world.
>
> The efforts were the culmination of an extended campaign against Mr. Macron after his candidacy began to gain steam this year, with digital activists in the United States and elsewhere sharing tactics, tips and tricks across the English- and French-speaking parts of the internet.
---
### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/155 "2017-05-07T18:00:37Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#):
>
> [NY Times: U.S. Far-Right Activists Promote Hacking Attack Against Macron](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-hack-french-election-marine-le-pen.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0)
>
> The new Nazis.
And they are going global, how ironic when they are using the fear of globalism as a reason to undermine democratic nations.
---
### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/156 "2017-05-07T18:04:38Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> And they are going global, how ironic when they are using the fear of globalism as a reason to undermine democratic nations.
And even more so when you consider whom they might, just possibly, be fellow-travelling with (if only on the _cui bono?_ principle)
---
### Author:  [@OwnRules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OwnRules)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/157 "2017-05-07T18:07:12Z")
[**French election results: Emmanuel Macron ‘wins 60 per cent of vote,’ exit polls suggest**](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/07/french-election-live-marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-presidency/)
Live coverage @The Telegraph
---
### Author:  [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/158 "2017-05-07T18:15:56Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> I have zero use for Marine LePen, and don’t blame Obama for endorsing Macron.
>
> But… just whom does Obama imagine he’s going to sway?
>
> ANYONE who’s considering voting for LePen is, by definition, uneasy about globalism, concerned that international elitists are trying to deprive them of their culture, that their leaders are more concerned about foreign opinion than THEIR opinions. In short, people fearful that the France they know and love is disappearing.
>
> How would the endorsement of ONE of those foreign elites win over such a person?
>
> I asked a similar question back in 2004 when Richard Dawkins tried to appeal to “undecided” Americans to vote for Kerry. What the Hell made Dawkins think HIS opinion would matter to any undecided American? A typical undecided American was someone who was either…
>
> 1. Conservative on religious/social issues but fearful about what Bush was doing to the economy, or
>
> 2. A businessperson who liked low taxes and lax regulation, but was uncomfortable with the Religious Right.
>
> Either way, what could Dawkins have to say that would win over either type of undecided voter?
Agreed: I was more enthusiastic about Kerry than any Democratic presidential candidate before or since, but I was distinctly irritated by the Dawkins endorsement.
---
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/159 "2017-05-07T18:16:45Z")
[France 24](http://www.france24.com/en/breaking/20170507-emmanuel-macron-elected-french-president-with-651-vote/?ns_mchannel=fidelisation&ns_source=newsletter_aef_france24_breaking_news_en&ns_campaign=email&ns_linkname=brkLinkName&rfi_member_id=1000314095180&aef_campaign_ref=article_newsletter&aef_campaign_date=2017-05-07) says Macron has won with 65% of the vote.
---
### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-presidential-election-2017/781294/160 "2017-05-07T18:17:43Z")
> [@OwnRules](#):
>
> [**French election results: Emmanuel Macron ‘wins 60 per cent of vote,’ exit polls suggest**](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/07/french-election-live-marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-presidency/)
>
> Live coverage @The Telegraph
The article now says that Macron won “65 per cent of the vote” and the text says that it was more than that. 🙂
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