I regard this thread as a meaningless exercise...Beyond their gender and their similar ambitions to become the political leader of their respective nations, these two female politicians have little or nothing in common.....I am intrigued by the prospect of a competent, engaged and articulate woman being elected president in America. To those who feel dread and foreboding about another Clinton presidency, all I can assume is that they have enjoyed the tunnelvision and fascist autocracy of the all-Republican government we've struggled under for the last 6+ years. I, for one, am ready for some changes in substance and in style...The sooner the darkness of the Cheney-Bush years comes to an end, the better for America and the world.

Oh please Madelaine, do some basic reading over the summer. Why speak about French history knowing so little about it? And while you are at it, review Mme. Royal's constant reference to her "feminity".That is really all she had, and wearing white like a Madonne or talking about "entrez dans la lumière" , "something has risen..." did not appeal to us either! People came to me saying "You must be happy she is a woman". Euh... No! my vote goes to competence, not gender. Go ahead, waste your votes on stupid criteria, and then what?

I agree that the basis of this arguement is sexist. If Sarcsky won no one would be comparing him to Bush or McCain or what have you.

To more bush bozos's point above. Entrapment. Also, the case against the fl african-american kids who the bush admin locked up because they, supposedly, going to do something to sears tower. There is always a government operative with them everytime. should we believe what bush tell's us? Has he ever lied to us before? Does he have anything to gain? I say entrapment also. This is treason. Bush and the right has allied with our enemies against thiis coutnry. They hate dems/gays/socialists/everybody who doesn't look like ronald reagan. That is not the america I grew up in. That is called facsism

Mon cher Phillippe:

Ce n'etait pas ma premiere choix, mais qui pourrait m'elever a Senator, si ce n'etait pas Bill? Ne s'inquietez vous, quand je serai le president je vais tout changer... et la premiere chose que je voudrais faire, c'est de change la methode pour decorer la Maison Blanche. Tout apres ca.

Hillary

MA CHERE HILLARY: IL NE FAUT PAS MARIER LE COCHON.

Royal lost in large part (perhaps the decisive part) because of the ugly chauvinism which remains a powerful force in French politics. Regardless of the merits of her policies, many French voters simply could not imagine her as a leader -- because she's a woman. After all, this is a country which did not give women the right to vote until more than two decades after the U.S. Unlike many other European countries, France never in its history had a powerful queen (unless one counts Eleanor of Aquitaine). The most powerful woman in France today remains a symbol -- Madelaine.

I'm amazed that you selected a response that disagreed with your inane question. You also selected 5 that supported it, but that's still more balance than I expected.

You could call me an average French woman. I have always voted for a socialist candidate when there was one but not this time: Royal's proposals were simply empty. She constantly insulted our intelligence by promising the moon and the whole galaxy along with it, never giving any shadow of a credible budget to back it up. She thought she could do it all alone, far from the thinkers in her party... I could never see/hear any real desire to serve anybody else but herself. For crying out loud, SR cannot even take a 46% as a hint! If I had a vote in the US and regardless of the fact that I do not care much more for Hillary-the woman- than I do for Ségolène, I'd have no problem voting for Clinton. She does have good ideas for America at home and in the world,and I do believe she aims to serve as well as her husband did.

I just heard Hillary on the "Morning Joe" program that has replaced Imus on MSNBC, and she was very upbeat in the interview. A couple more women I know have registered to vote for Hillary that have never voted before, and I am sure there will be a lot more of this so-called "Hidden Vote" out there. This came as a suprise to me for I had never discussed politics with them and they were the ones that brought up the subject.

I agree that this is a totally useless thread except that it gives more options to tee off on Hillary. And speaking of Hillary, she will not be running this campaign or doing the heavy lifting for her candidacy. BILL will be called upon for that. Segolene had no one even comparable "managing" her on the stump like BILL does for Hillary. She couldn't do this on her own, and (God help us), hopefully the American people will see that HE doesn't do it for her either.....

The Fort Dix Six?

Well, seems they made a jihad training film featuring themselves. But they couldn't figure out how to burn it to a DVD. So they went to a Circuit City and asked the clerk on duty if he could do it for them.

D'oh!

I guess that means these guys probably needed remedial terrorist training.

There also seems to be more than a hint of entrapment in the role the government informant played in helping arrange the planned attack. Back in November one of the plotters called a Philly police officer and told him that he'd been approached by someone [i.e., the government informant] "who was pressuring him to obtain a map of Fort Dix, and that he feared the incident was terrorist-related."

Directly contrary to how it perceives itself, the elite Beltway opinion-making class could not be any more unrepresentative of how most Americans live and how they think about their government. Their careers require access and information, which in turn requires the currying of favor with the political officials they purport to cover, to say nothing of the media corporations for which they work.

To most Americans -- the vast majority of whom believe that our country is headed in the wrong direction -- the "Beltway" is the source of the problem. That is the epicenter of the political and media culture which is so profoundly failing the country. Every Beltway institution -- from the President to the Congress to the media -- is held in such low esteem by Americans across the board.

But for the Beltway pundit and our media stars -- those who see David Broder as their Dean -- the "Beltway" is the opposite. For such individuals, the "Beltway" is their habitat. It is the source of their importance and status and wealth and prestige. They naturally love the "Beltway" because they are integral parts of it and that system -- and those who rule it -- lavishes them with all sorts of rewards. As a result, they are naturally inclined to view it with great enthusiasm and to defend it as the superior system. Dogs don't attack the master who feeds them, and people don't generally attack the system that glorifies them.

The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin's appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove's role in supporting Griffin.

Several of the e-mails that the Bush administration is withholding from Congress, as well as papers from the White House counsel's office describing other withheld documents, were made available to National Journal by a senior executive branch official, who said that the administration has inapprop

'Did Rudy Giuliani's campaign snub an Iowa farmer couple because they weren't millionaires and hence wouldn't be a suitable prop for Rudy's anti-"death tax" campaigning? And will the haircut-obsessed political media cover it?

Check out this unbelievable story from the Anamosa Journal-Eureka in Jones County, Iowa, the accuracy of which I've just confirmed by phone with one of the people in it:

OLIN-Last weekend Deb and Jerry VonSprecken of Olin received a call from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign office asking them if they would be interested in holding a campaign rally on May 4, after she had donated to his campaign.
"We thought it would be an honor and agreed," said Jerry.

After agreeing to host Rudy's rally, Deb and Jerry Von Sprecken then set about doing a bunch of work to organize the event. They underwent a security check and called a bunch of local friends and acquaintances -- and even the local sheriff and fire department -- and proudly put the pieces in place for their rally.

But then...

On Tuesday Deb received a call from Giuliani's Des Moines office and was asked to call New York.
"They wanted to know our assets," she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle.

Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location.

"Tony said, 'I'm sorry, you aren't worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.' then he said they weren't going to be able to come," Deb continued.

The Death Tax is a federal version of the Iowa Inheritance Tax.

The VonSpreckens then called Delgado back and told him how upset they were that the event had been cancelled, how much work they had done and that they had been expecting 75-100 people at their farm.

"I invited him into my home," Deb said of Giuliani, fighting back tears.'

'CBS fires Gen. Batiste over VoteVets ad.
Iraq veteran Gen. John Batiste "has been asked to leave his position as a consultant to CBS News" over a new VoteVets ad criticizing the Iraq war.'

So much for the first amendment. So much for the 'liberal' media. You simply aren't allowed to criticize the Emperor. It just isn't done. the multinational corporations don't like it. Doesn't matter how many die in the war -- we're just serfs and cannon fodder, after all--what counts is that the Emperor gets his oil.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush might not get a chance to follow through on his vow to veto a $96 billion war spending bill passed by the House that would tie war funding past July to a progress report.

A 221-205 vote on Thursday sends the bill to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future as Republican and Democratic leaders try to work out a compromise with the White House.

The bill would send the Pentagon about $40 billion up front and require the Bush administration to report on the progress of the war -- and on the progress of Iraq's government in reaching a political settlement -- in July.

Congress would then vote on whether to release the rest of the money.

Earlier, Democrats narrowly rejected a Republican amendment that would have lifted the restrictions in the bill. Rep. John Murtha, a leading critic of the war, said the amendment would have removed any leverage the bill would give the United States over the Iraqi government.

"We've got to put some pressure on them," said Murtha, D-Pennsylvania. He added, "Every time Iraqis don't do something, Americans are put in the killing zone."

An American living in France, I can tell you that Segolène and Hilary have NOTHING in common. Segolène tried to use her femininity to win (I'm a feminist - do you know how much this costs me??) and then she blamed misogeny when she lost. She has a very scary "Jeanne d'Arc" side - a woman on a divine mission. I'm no rightist but I found her more frightening than the supposedly fascist Sarkozy.

Hopefully, regardless of which Democrat wins, the path we are on now will change. It's great that the Democrats are drawing so much more support than the Republicans. This really supports the notion that the Democrats are taking on issues that really matter to the American people. From health care to education and poverty, these issues take precedence over an ever-inflating military budget that seems to bring no resolve for any country involved.

The Borgen Project states that just $19 billion annually can end starvation and $23 billon annually can reverse the spread of Malaria and AIDS. With these issues being so easily addressed, it is no wonder that a war-touting political group isn't doing well in the polls or with the American people.

Waste of Time thread. The French election has zero relevance in the U. S. campaign.

I woted for Royal so I could have a riot without getting my head busted.

Bottom line, in the final analysis people of both genders will reject her. Right now she has name recognition and is riding on Bill's coattails (primary voters). When people really start to engage, I really believe they will reject her. Not because she is a woman, that maybe some of it but more because of who she is and this country just can't take 4 more years of the fighting that will come with another Clinton Admin.

I won so I could keep on busting those hooligan heads.

If Nicolas Sarkozy had lost, would you have compared him to ALL the male candidates? I agree that this article, while interesting, is a bit demeaning to both women.