They may not think so:
"Hollande picks new prime minister" | Associated Press April 01, 2014
PARIS — President Francois Hollande named former interior minister Manuel Valls as France’s new prime minister Monday, just 24 hours after his Socialists suffered heavy losses in nationwide municipal elections.
Valls, who replaces the unpopular Jean-Marc Ayrault, is consistently voted France’s most popular Socialist in opinion polls and is considered part of the right wing of the party.
The 51-year-old has drawn comparisons with Nicolas Sarkozy and is also the most popular Socialist among France’s conservative right — he wants, for example, to rethink France’s 35-hour working week, a Socialist initiative.
Related: Sarkozy's Stench Sticking to Hollande
I'm thinking the $ociali$ts get dumped in the next election no matter who they run.
In a prerecorded televised speech, Hollande said it was time for a France to enter a ‘‘new phase’’ and pledged Valls would lead a ‘‘combative government.’’
He spelled out some key policy changes that included announcing new unspecified tax cuts and confirming a plan to cut nearly $70 billion in government spending.
Some $ocial$t, huh?
Valls is the Socialists’ hardliner on immigration and security and has held very controversial stances while serving as interior minister.
He allowed officials to ban shows by a comic considered anti-Semitic.
Related: Big Fuss Over French Funnyman
That's funny!
Disappointment with the Socialists’ handling of the economy drove many voters to conservative or anti-immigrant, far-right candidates in the elections Sunday.
So is that!
Ayrault conceded that the elections were ‘‘a defeat for the government.’’ The administration has failed to fulfill its promises to cut France’s more than 10 percent unemployment and boost growth, which was just 0.3 percent last year, according to figures released Monday.
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"Socialists rejected in French voting" | Associated Press March 31, 2014
PARIS — The governing Socialists lost ground to the conservative right in municipal elections Sunday that are seen as a referendum on embattled President Francois Hollande and certain to lead to a government shake-up, exit polls indicated.
So he replaced the prime minister. You happy?
Projections showed the anti-immigration far right expanded its base in several towns after a symbolic win in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont in last week’s first round. The low turnout, estimated at no more than 62 percent, was expected to break a record.
‘‘It’s a defeat firstly for the left. It’s a sad evening,’’ government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said.
The only good news for Hollande were solid indications by pollsters that the crown jewel, Paris, would remain in his party’s hands with a win by Anne Hidalgo, 54, and deputy of Socialist Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe. Hidalgo, who was battling rightist candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, claimed victory late Sunday.
That jogs my memory.
The anti-immigration National Front had a surprisingly strong finish in the first round of voting and pollsters said its candidate in the Cote d’Azur town of Frejus was winning. Extreme-right candidate Robert Menard, former head of Reporters Without Borders, supported by the National Front, won the town of Beziers.
The French look phoqueing fed-up with rule for bankers.
Hollande’s governing Socialists were victorious in 2008 municipal elections but lost a string of midsized cities on Sunday, including the Champagne capital of Reims.
The results reflect the president’s unpopularity and his failure to cure a lagging economy or fix the unemployment rate, which hovers around 10 percent....
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They didn't mention the deployment of French troops to Africa as a component to his unpopularity (as they get social service cuts at home).
"Chadian peacekeepers fire on civilians" | Associated Press March 31, 2014
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Chadian peacekeeping soldiers opened fire on civilians in Central African Republic’s strife-torn capital during the weekend, killing more than 30 people and sparking fears of reprisals, officials and witnesses said.
Yeah, that will keep the peace.
Jean-Pierre Sadou, a gendarmerie official with the regional peacekeeping mission, could not confirm the death tolls provided by local officials but said the soldiers’ actions were a ‘‘legitimate defense’’ after an attack on their convoy.
The soldiers were returning from a mission in the country’s interior on Saturday when two of their vehicles were attacked by grenades, said Sadou. In response, the soldiers started shooting on the crowd, witnesses said.
More than 20 people were killed in Bangui’s PK12 neighborhood alone, said Odette Dombolo, a commune mayor.
‘‘We continue to collect the bodies,’’ Dombolo said Sunday. ‘‘There are more than 100 injured, and I mean seriously. We are overwhelmed.’’
The same soldiers killed four people in the Gobongo neighborhood, an official said, and witnesses said eight more were killed near the airport.
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Related: UN starts Central African Republic investigation
Alone in the C.A.R.
No, the French are there, too.
