French Presidential Election 2017, Run-Off

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'll hold my nose, take a deep breath, and put a Flawless, Beautiful ballot in the envelope.

[Antonio the Sixth]

A new Reign of Terror is pretty much the only real solution at this point.

Hear, hear!

[Antonio the Sixth]

Le Pen. At least she's right on trade. And Macron is pretty bad on immigration too, just in the other direction.

Ah, this is exactly the sort of people Democrats should appeal to... Right?
Anyway, Macron.

Yes.

Says the person who supports the wall, and reducing legal immigration as well.

Says the person who unironically cares about reducing the deficit.

[Antonio the Sixth]

And Le Pen probably won't even break 35% in the runoff.

She almost certainly will.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is a useful thread for identifying the vile morons who sagely declare that fascism is preferable to a guy who worked for a bank or whatever.

Let's not pretend like the future of France under FBM is going to be some shining beacon for Europe or something. It's going to be a disaster, and you can count on Panzergirl to be there to reap the benefits in 2022. There is no surest way to encourage the rise of fascism than keeping on with nice technocratic centrist policies.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is a useful thread for identifying the vile morons who sagely declare that fascism is preferable to a guy who worked for a bank or whatever.

Let's not pretend like the future of France under FBM is going to be some shining beacon for Europe or something. It's going to be a disaster, and you can count on Panzergirl to be there to reap the benefits in 2022. There is no surest way to encourage the rise of fascism than keeping on with nice technocratic centrist policies.

The fact Macron is the best candidate against Panzergirl shows certain people still doesn't the a memo.

Of course, he was incredibly lucky given PS total collapse and Fillon's corruption scandal. I hope he's not stupid enough to just sit back and relax now. If he f**ks up this election, he ought to be guillotined.

I'll give him that, so far he's been a far better candidate than I ever expected him to be. Certainly better than Hillary.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Let's not pretend like the future of France under FBM is going to be some shining beacon for Europe or something. It's going to be a disaster, and you can count on Panzergirl to be there to reap the benefits in 2022. There is no surest way to encourage the rise of fascism than keeping on with nice technocratic centrist policies.

i theoretically get you but.....wasn't renzi also kind of trying to break up frozen structures, which could have been good for the whole country?

i think macron is absolutely going to try achieving something similar if he gets a parliamentary majority.

Italy has specific problems above and beyond those of France and other similar European countries. Renzi tended to be very good on Italy-specific problems, even as he was fairly terrible on problems that Italy shares with other European countries.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is a useful thread for identifying the vile morons who sagely declare that fascism is preferable to a guy who worked for a bank or whatever.

Let's not pretend like the future of France under FBM is going to be some shining beacon for Europe or something. It's going to be a disaster, and you can count on Panzergirl to be there to reap the benefits in 2022. There is no surest way to encourage the rise of fascism than keeping on with nice technocratic centrist policies.

Seems like the surest way to encourage the rise of fascism would be to elect a fascist as President of France actually

Well, a President Le Pen elected in 2017 would have no way to a parliamentary majority, which would limit her ability to do damage and consolidate power. A President Le Pen elected in 2022 or 2027 might very well get it - which means it's over for good.

Of course this doesn't justify voting Le Pen - I certainly won't - but it's something to consider.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is a useful thread for identifying the vile morons who sagely declare that fascism is preferable to a guy who worked for a bank or whatever.

Let's not pretend like the future of France under FBM is going to be some shining beacon for Europe or something. It's going to be a disaster, and you can count on Panzergirl to be there to reap the benefits in 2022. There is no surest way to encourage the rise of fascism than keeping on with nice technocratic centrist policies.

Seems like the surest way to encourage the rise of fascism would be to elect a fascist as President of France actually

Well, a President Le Pen elected in 2017 would have no way to a parliamentary majority, which would limit her ability to do damage and consolidate power. A President Le Pen elected in 2022 or 2027 might very well get it - which means it's over for good.

Of course this doesn't justify voting Le Pen - I certainly won't - but it's something to consider.

*Le Pen wins*
"Trust me, it won't be that bad! She won't get a majority in the National Assembly!"

*FN makes major gains; LR's right faction coalesces around Le Pen*
"Trust me, it won't be that bad, it's a fragile coalition!"

*Le Pen sets date for EU Referendum*
"Trust me, France would never vote to leave the EU."

*Frances votes to exit the EU*
"Oh, well, the EU was pro-austerity anyway..."

*Deportations begin in force; more riots and closed borders*
"More jobs for the working class?"

Are you utterly incapable of reading, or just disingenuous? Do I sound reassuring to you?

[Antonio the Sixth]

What is wrong with the French Right, that their runoff candidate is an outright bigot? We went from Sarkozy to LePen, and apparently, the French Right is unable to resist the siren call of insane populism.

the normal right nominated a comically corrupt dope who still managed to score 20% of the vote.

then again, Le Pen is also comically corrupt but nobody cares because apparently if you're mean enough corruption doesn't matter.

The French right has nominated comically corrupt dopes before, and some of them won, so this is a progress.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Fillon did four times worse than Mr. Comically Corrupt Jacques Chirac

(acknowledging, of couse, Chirac made it to the run-off)

I'm still annoyed that he did better than him in the first round. Though in fairness, there were 16 candidates in 2002.