talking points that piss you off

[tpfkaw]

4. "Pro-choice people are bad Catholics, but pro-death penalty pro-war and anti-poor people are good Catholics"

i'm not aware of anyone who uses that as a talking point.

Everyone heard about Kerry being denied communion.

And Kerry is pro-death penalty, pro-war, and "anti-poor" by your standards as well as being pro-choice.

[tpfkaw]

So he is a nutty leftist, just not a nutty far-leftist?

Basically. When you know actual French far-leftists, you can easily see the difference.

Yes but France is several notches to the left of almost every other developed western nation with the exception of the Scandinavian states. Although the difference is their political discourse seems competent, whereas in France it seems like half of their politicians are still stuck in the 1790's. Melenchon would be considered a far-leftist outside of France. Even the BBC, a bastion of liberal-leftism, calls him a far-leftist, as to other such bastions like the Guardian.

They also think Syriza's far-left, so they're not exactly the best judges. And France has had 2 left-wing Presidents since the war, hardly "several notches to the left of almost every other developed western nation".

France is the only Western country I can think of where opebo would be taken seriously and considered within the mainstream of political discourse.