And now for something ... French

I am back from Virginia and about to start my paper on urban violence that has to be finished by Wed morning (Mora has won once again). Then off to Kalamazoo for the great meeting of Medievalists so I won't be posting much until next Monday.

But this is interesting. On NRO Denis Boyles comments on Sarko's victory in France and how to mine it for good advice for Repubs running in '08. Here's one of his conclusions:

The whole country knew that Jacques Chirac hated Sarkozy and that Sarkozy thought Chirac was a fraud; they knew Villepin and the whole UDP establishment was uncomfortable with Sarko. Even though he ran a campaign that had more in common with the UDP than with the Socialists, he was smart enough to know that the biggest asset he had was the enmity of Chirac, and he knew that the biggest mistake he could make would be to court the support of a president from his own party. He refused to do it, and the nation loved him for it. After all, most French voters think Chirac is a hopelessly inept and cynical loser — sort of the way most Americans, including many conservatives, feel about George W. Bush. The smart Republican candidate will make Bush his Chirac.