Allez Sarko

[claig]

The debate is on.
Not only has Sarko got the best policies, he also seems to have the best tune

www.dailymotion.com/video/xzm21_allez-sarko-sarko-ohoh-13-01-2007_music

Haha, what was Holand's tune like then?

Yoiu don't want to know. Let's just say it was unappealing, like his policies!!!

Ooh, I almost started a thread yesterday about the debate.
Tbh Sarko spent the best of it defending his 5 years as a president and didn't really come up with many solutions for the future. Nevertheless, I shudder to think that Hollande will be the head of state. France desperately needs all the cuts and reforms.

Unfortunately, it seems that Hollande will win.

Hi winny. It was a very good debate. Over 2 hours of head to head debate. It was better and more informative than our debates here. From what I saw, I thought Sarko came across well. He kept mentioning "mensonges" and saying that Hollande was not telling the truth and changing his positions. He also said that Hollande keeps saying that Sarko and France is not doing as well as Germany, but then says that any of Sarko's policies that are similar to what Germany does are the wrong thing to do.

He also said that France is the highest taxed country in Europe along with Sweden, I think it was, and that Hollande wants to increase taxation. Also Holland wants to scale back nuclear energy, which is one of France's trump cards given that they don't have oil and gas etc.

I thought Sarko came across as the more realistic, but Sarko is so unpopular with the public that Hollande may even win.

There was also the stuff about Hollande and the 35 hour week, and how Sarko had enabled workers to earn more money by overtime or hours "supplementaires" or whatever it was. Sarko said that those hours "n'etaient pas pour les riches".

Sarko wanted to have more debates, but Hollande declined.
As teh song says "Allez Sarko oh oh"

Yes, I agree with all that. Bizarrely enough the debate didn't change much in a way of polls (as far as I'm aware, haven't checked this evening yet).

Tbh I'm struggling to see why everyone here hates Sarkozy so much. Yes, he's 'bling bling'. Yes, he cut lots of jobs-but, tbh, it's so wide spread in France that you have 10 people doing a job that 2 could do with no problem.

Somehow I doubt Hollande would have managed to team up with Merkel to save euro Oh, well.

It'll all play on the FN and Bayrou voters, and the ones that didn't vote in the first round.

Off to check latest polls.

Hmm, Hollande at 52.5% and Sarko at 47.5%, but Hollande is going down and Sarko up- but it might be too late now.

And surprise, surprise, out of freelancers/owners of business etc over 63% would vote for Sarko. In the public sector it's reversed. Sure, it is, since everyone wants to keep their comfortable jobs and I understand that, but it is not a good thing for France's economy.

Yes, I agree with you. I don't know why Sarkozy is so disliked.
Channel 4 tonight was interviewing some of Hollande's supporters and the message seemed to be that they think Sarkozy is brash and has made the Presidency disrespected and France disrespected. But this is the old doff the cap to the elite mentality, the admiration of the enarques, born to rule, and the dislike of the parvenu Sarkozy who I think didn't come from a grande ecole background.

Sarko is good, he stands up for France, he gives as good as he gets on the world stage. He says it like it is, just as he points out Hollande's lies. He is not acting, he believes in what he is doing.

Sarko said that the public sector makes up something like 54% of France's GDP, the highest in Europe, and even then and even now, Hollande wants to increase it. Sarko said that he wants to pay some teachers 25% more, but wants to raise their hours from 16 to 24 or something like that, and reduce their overall numbers, but Hollande wants to increase their numbers in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

I think he went to ENA so elite schooling but yes, son or grandson for Hungarian emigrant etc.

Yy re: teachers.

Also, what's important to consider is that Marine Le Pen has said she'll cast a blank vote and that Hollande was better in the debate . She's just waiting for UMP to implode so she FN can be the main rightist (erm...far right) party and her long-term strategy is that after pitful reign of Hollande her chances at becoming a president will be very high. People don't seem to realise that, though. So even if you hate Sarko, you should vote for him, because the alternative is so, so much worse.

of Hungarian emigrant

I still have a sneaking suspicion that Sarko will make it. I don't believe the polls, they got it wrong in the first round, and I think that some of them are the oft seen spin.

Yes, you are right. If Hollande wins, he is likely to have to obey the markets etc., then all his promises will turn to dust and he will lose credibility as Sarko's words become true. Then there will be no opposition to the FN.

You're right, Sarkozy went to the Sciences Po, but failed to graduate.

'Sarkozy was enrolled in the Lycée Chaptal, a well regarded public middle and high school in Paris's 8th arrondissement, where he failed his sixième. His family then sent him to the Cours Saint-Louis de Monceau, a private Catholic school in the 17th arrondissement, where he was reportedly a mediocre student,[9] but where he nonetheless obtained his baccalauréat in 1973. He enrolled at the Université Paris X Nanterre, where he graduated with an MA in Private law, and later with a DEA degree in Business law. Paris X Nanterre had been the starting place for the May '68 student movement and was still a stronghold of leftist students. Described as a quiet student, Sarkozy soon joined the right-wing student organization, in which he was very active. He completed his military service as a part time Air Force cleaner.[10] After graduating, he entered the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, better known as Sciences Po, (1979?1981) but failed to graduate[11] due to an insufficient command of the English language.[12]'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Sarkozy#Education

Ah, Sciences Po. Why did I think ENA Anyway, yes, I suppose there is a slight chance he'll win-I think perhaps if the elections were in a week, instead of Sunday- as it seems he's going up in the polls...not sure now, I have a feeling it'll be Hollande by 0.5% iyswim.
I also wondered why everyone says Hollande did better in the debate Are people deaf?

I think they believe what they want to believe, and they have already made up their minds because they don't like Sarkozy. They've got their fingers in their ears, and if they don't get their fingers out of their *, they'll get their fingers burnt

Another thing is that everyone is supposed to hate him so quite a lot of people that want to/will vote for him will never own up (that's what I noticed amongst my friends: But I caaaaan't vote for Sarko, even though Hollande's crap. What will people say??? )

Sarkozy is now courting the far Right vote. Nice man, well worth cheering on Unless it';s a question of championing the underdog. As someone who grew up in Mitterand's France in the 80s I can categorically say that Sarko has not a hope in freezy hell of getting back in. DH reminded me yesterday that the only reason he got in is because people voted for him rather than Le Pen in the last election.

Yeah, and now people will vote for Hollande rather than him. And then in five years they'll vote for Marine Le Pen rather than Hollande. That'll be great

I refuse to believe that the French would be so stupid as to actually vote in the far right even if they've got close in recent years. In five years' time there might be some credible opposition in the two main parties.

Bayrou says he will vote for Hollande, even though Bayrou used to work with Sarko. Oh Oh.

I know. There's going to be one last poll today at 6pm-we'll see the effect of that then. And then til Sunday...
Tbh I see no way of Sarko winning.

winny, I think you made a very good point when you said that some of your friends didn't want to admit to voting for Sarko, but that may not necessarily be the case at the ballot box. The polls underestimated support for the FN and overestimated support for Melenchon for similar reasons. Also it is sometimes better to be behind in the polls because then people sitting on the fence get worried and sometimes vote for the second place candidate.

Ok, the last poll before election: Hollande 52%-Sarkozy-48%.

Phew. Close. Given that we know the polls are often wrong, I think Sarko stands a chance.