Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ChairmanPoo]

Between WWII and the Franco-Prussian war, they kinda lost the right to that record in the eyes of the world.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Some of the French soldiers who died at Dunkirk covering the retreat of the British forces.

Also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Resistance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle

One would think that by this point any cultured person would avoid parroting the "surrendering monkeys" myth about the French.

[Strife26]

One would think that any cultured person would not try to white-wash history.

France's military utterly failed them in both wars. Soldiers fought bravely, commanders scored victories, government existed in exile. France got stomped.

[mainiac]

World War 1 anyone?  The French killed far more Germans in that war then the Americans killed in WWII.

[Realmfighter]

One would think that any cultured person would not try to white-wash history.

France's military utterly failed them in both wars. Soldiers fought bravely, commanders scored victories, government existed in exile. France got stomped.

No one is saying France didn't lose. They are saying that their reputation as a country that surrenders to anything comedically available is dumb.

[Bauglir]

One would think that a cultured person would stop trying to foist the military merits or lack thereof of a previous generation on a group of people who couldn't possibly have had any part in the decisionmaking we're talking about, by reason of not having been born yet. To whatever extent the French historically were or were not "surrender monkeys", it doesn't matter to modern politics outside of a tiny niche of policy decisions about history classes.

It certainly isn't relevant to this thread, if I'm not putting words in Aqizzar's mouth with this sentence.

[Aqizzar]

It certainly isn't relevant to this thread, if I'm not putting words in Aqizzar's mouth with this sentence.

I'll admit, some historical context is never a bad thing per se when national reputations come up.  I do think the modern history of France gets shit on a lot more than they might deserve.  But yeah, it's getting a little beyond the thread here, which I probably contributed to at some point.

As long as we all recognize that Presidential candidates using "French" as a character assault is ridiculous, then enough has been said.

The problem really is that there's not much to talk about aside from votes.  It's an off-game weekend.

[Heron TSG]

How about those Gingrich attack ads? I haven't seen the half-hour Romney Slayer yet, but I can easily imagine Gingrich being paid off by the Democrats for that.

[RedKing]

So...it looks like in South Carolina at least, Gingrich's scorched-earth media blitz is starting to show results.

Polls as recent as 1/10 had Romney with an 11-point lead on Gingrich in the Palmetto State (31.3% to 19.7%). By 1/13, that gap had closed to a mere 4-5 points (26.7% to 22%).

Ron Paul seems to have gotten a spillover boost, going from about 10% to 14.7% over the same period. Santorum is falling off pretty hard after jumping onto the radar after Iowa. He went from 2% before Iowa to 20% after it to now around the same level as Ron Paul.

Perry and Huntsman are polling neck-and-neck at the bottom, both around 5.7%. Considering that Perry seems to have staked his race on "real" Republicans down in Dixie, he's about as much dead meat as the roadkill he compared Carolina barbecue to. Turns out the one thing he can't execute is a decent election campaign.

Given that Gingrich is pretty solidly in 2nd place right now in South Carolina and Florida, if the attacks continue (and more importantly if Romney continues to walk around with one foot lodged firmly in his mouth) then Gingrich could make the mother of all comebacks and win South Carolina and Florida. At least until he puts his foot deeper down his own throat, and we're subjected to yet another spin of the "Who Wants To Lose To Obama 2012 Invitational" wheel. I've heard of a circular firing line, but I've never seen a circular suicide line before.

[Sheb]

It's a wonder what 5 millions bucks can do for you. Well, all in all, it's still a good show for Romney. He isn't invincible, but if he can win in the Bible Belt (SC), flyover America (Iowa) and the East Coast (NH) he very proved that he can win against his rivals anywhere.

As a liberal, I'm just hoping Gingritch will continue wrecking havoc in the GOP. Every ads he gets out is more ammo for the Obama's campaign.

[RedKing]

I saw one commentator (a conservative one, I believe) refer to Gingrich as "the suicide bomber of the Republican Party". He knows his political career is probably finished after this, but by God, he's taking as many people with him as he can. And he's probably hoping there's virgins involved somehow.

[jester]

Dont you seppos owe the french your entire country after all the gear, knowhow and military support they gave you during your rebellion?

[Heron TSG]

Dont you seppos owe the french your entire country after all the gear, knowhow and military support they gave you during your rebellion?

I think we sorta paid them back with the help in both World Wars, but it's not really relevant. Anything left over is probably in a museum.

I'm thinking that Perry and Huntsman, at the least, are dropping out after this state. Probably Santorum too.

[Aqizzar]

Given that Gingrich is pretty solidly in 2nd place right now in South Carolina and Florida, if the attacks continue (and more importantly if Romney continues to walk around with one foot lodged firmly in his mouth) then Gingrich could make the mother of all comebacks and win South Carolina and Florida. At least until he puts his foot deeper down his own throat, and we're subjected to yet another spin of the "Who Wants To Lose To Obama 2012 Invitational" wheel. I've heard of a circular firing line, but I've never seen a circular suicide line before.

I suppose what happens in Florida will be the real decision of the race.  It used to be South Carolina was the first "real" primary, because it's more expensive to campaign in than Iowa and New Hampshire, so it was considered proof of who could put together a real campaign.  Thanks to Citizens United, as long as you can pick up one crazy millionaire who wants an impact on the race, anybody can survive.  Combined with the Republican primary going mostly to proportional-caucus delegation, where it's almost like making a parliament, the "real" nomination could drag on for months as candidates overtake each other from one state to the next, with the money jockeying behind them.

Except for Florida, which is the first "big" state, with expensive TV advertising and too many people to go door to door, with their own weird mix of issues between Cuban Republicans and people who used to be New England Republicans and plain old Southern Folk.  And most importantly: Florida is the biggest state on the calendar that's still "Winner Take All" in nomination, with as many delegates as Iowa and South Carolina combined.  If Romney wins Florida, the race will be effective over as everyone else's financial backing dries up and he maintains a commanding lead until the convention.  If anybody but Romney wins Florida, especially if it somehow winds up being Newt Gingrich, it's going to be a long fight.

I still predict a Romney candidacy in the end no matter what, it's just a question of when it'll be obvious to the rest of the campaigns and their donors, and how many aspects of Romney will have tailor-made attack ads ready to go by the end.

[RedKing]

I still predict a Romney candidacy in the end no matter what, it's just a question of when it'll be obvious to the rest of the campaigns and their donors, and how many aspects of Romney will have tailor-made attack ads ready to go by the end.

Part of me agrees with you, and part of me just isn't so sure. I remember that Hilary Clinton appeared to be a foregone conclusion at one point too. Then Obama was supposedly the frontrunner after he won Iowa and tied NH, but it was still a nightmarishly long slog that threatened to go all the way to the convention. And his margin of delegates at this point (25 to Clinton's 24 and Edwards' 18) frankly wasn't much different than what Romney's got (14 to Ron Paul's 10 and Santorum's . Gingrich was polling as high as 45% at one time in Florida, and it looks like he could rebound there with enough ads and enough bomb-throwing (and frankly, bomb-throwing is what Gingrich does best).

Honestly, I'd love to see this thing go all the way to the convention and come down to the "unpledged" delegates. Oh what a wretched hive of shady back-room deals THAT would be. The US hasn't had some really good convention drama in decades.

[Rose]

I think it'd be hillarious if vermin supreme got a recognisable amount of votes.