NYT: Will Sarkozy's 'Divisive Legislation' Lead to More Violence in France?

By Clay Waters (Bio | Archive)
May 8, 2007 - 14:46 ET

The New York Times is still adjusting badly to conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy's big win in the French presidential election over Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, judging by reporter Craig Smith's report from Paris on the thuggish violence that occurred after Sarkozy's big win ("Hundreds Are Arrested in Post-Election Riots Across France").

Instead of blaming the rioters, Smith implied that furthur violence could be blamed on Sarkozy keeping his campaign promises.

"Violent protests against the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France ended early Monday after hundreds of people were arrested, hundreds of cars gutted, and hundreds of windows smashed in several cities across France.

"Many people fear that the violence is just a taste of what is to come if Mr. Sarkozy makes good on his campaign promises to push through divisive legislation during his first 100 days in office."

For more on this biased story and others from the New York Times, visit Times Watch.

Related NewsBusters post: "Le Prejugé de Presse: Anti-Sarkozy Bias in the AFP."


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

So leftist are sore losers ev

May 8, 2007 - 15:00 ET by florida_chad

So leftist are sore losers everywhere. What a surprise.

Florida_chad

May 8, 2007 - 16:49 ET by acumen

Florida_chad - Remember the scathing article from the NY Times on the...gasp...polo-shirt wearing conservatives in Miami-Dade reported as a  protest "turned violent" when the "protesters" rushed the door of the chad-divining room to "steal" the election?  I think later we discovered two staplers and a paperclip required medivac.  Quite a difference with this article, no?

The Times makes a practice of

May 8, 2007 - 15:01 ET by Gat New York

The Times makes a practice of not reporting news, not just interpreting the news, but trying to create news.

Of course the violence will c

May 8, 2007 - 15:02 ET by Beowulf

Of course the violence will continue. Sarkozy won by a clear mandate, with no misrepresentation of his platform. So once again, it is the leftist minority sore losers causing the disturbances. Granted, we didn't come to such violence (we wouldn't have stood for it like the French have), but look at what has happened since 2000 when the Republicans took control of both the congress and the presidency. I have never seen such vitriolic hatred from the left. Hell, they don't even hate Rush or O'Reilly with such vituperation. It's their way or no way.

The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers

It's only logical

May 8, 2007 - 15:17 ET by ArcherB

the violence is just a taste of what is to come if Mr. Sarkozy makes good on his campaign promises to push through divisive legislation during his first 100 days in office.

So, by this logic, can we assume that all of the violent protests up to this point have been due to the divisive legislation of Jacques Chirac?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Libs aren't d

May 8, 2007 - 15:23 ET by Beowulf

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Libs aren't divisive - as long as you agree with them...

The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers

And I like how they define

May 8, 2007 - 15:36 ET by MightyMouth

And I like how they define "bipartisan" as: "...our way, or the highway!"

"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...

Any legislation will have i

May 8, 2007 - 15:37 ET by motherbelt

Any legislation will have its supporter and opponents. Only when said legislation is offered by a conservative will it be termed "divisive." Otherwise, there will simply be "legislation", with which some disagree.

The Times story says "While Mr. Sarkozy is most hated by minority youths in the country’s poor housing projects on the outskirts of major cities.....

Minority youths....poor housing projects....wasn't that the description of those who rioted not long ago in France? Anyone remember which group of "youths" they were? Hmmmm....

Violent leftists in France

May 8, 2007 - 15:18 ET by Six String Spiff

      I never thought I would say this, but if FRANCE can do it, the mighty USA sure as hell can!  Here is a man who ran on the very basic priciples of the American Conservative and won with the biggest margin in 40 years.  Of course the liberals (socialists) along with our Socialist M Schutzstaffel M will piss and moan about how mean and 'unfair' this man is.  I love it.  He presented a clear argument, the people voted overwhelmingly for him, and now there are violent riots going on in protest of this victory.  Hmm this sounds familliar.  This made my day yesterday.  My hope is renewed for my country.  The media in this country are going to learn a hard lesson.  Many liberal outlets are circling the bowl and I couldn't be more delighted.  Squirm.  Squirm you filthy America haters!  Bwaaahahahahahahah!

Islam should have it's religious status revoked until it can prove it's not a hate group.

Afternoon Six,I think we will

May 8, 2007 - 15:29 ET by bigtimer

Afternoon Six,

I think we will with Thompson/Hunter!

Btw...I wished all the leftist lawyers would be on their way to France to check the voting machines or whatever they use....and stay there.

Leftists are nothing but a walking talking empty headed hatred machine.

Afternoon BT

May 8, 2007 - 15:44 ET by Six String Spiff

Funny aint it?  The people that are screaming how unfair and horrible the man is, are setting cars on fire and destroying property.  That makes liberal sense to me.  If at first you don't succeed, burn the SOB's house down.  Because after all, we're the party for peace...   Rrrrrrright

Islam should have it's religious status revoked until it can prove it's not a hate group.

Six,I agree, I have been eage

May 8, 2007 - 15:49 ET by bigtimer

Six,

I agree, I have been eagerly awaiting this election and posted as such on here and on Sunday when he won...I watched their last debate too.

The leftist here were already calling him neo....too funny.

The leftist media world-wide, here and France will treat him just like they have President Bush...the terrorists will do to France what they did to Spain if they can...the leftist in France will do their utmost to make sure he gets none of his promises he made through if possible...they will do their best to destroy him.

He is a BIG BAD Conservative.

When is the last time anyone

May 9, 2007 - 07:21 ET by Beowulf

When is the last time anyone heard about a conservative protest turned violent (as few and far between as conservative protests are)? Even the Fred Phelps morons from Kansas, who I suppose could be termed Ultra-conservative, did not involve violence. And if anything could drive conservatives to violence, the Phelps protests would do it. Yet, the counter-protestors, usually leather-clad bikers, simply interject themselves between the Phelpsians and the mourners. Peacefully. Even though the protestors more than deserve to have extreme physical trauma inflicted upon them for their vile protests. But it never happens.

Now what do you think would happen if, say, Shrillary were to suddenly die (gasp) and protestors showed up with signs saying she was a closet lesbian and deserved to die? Or how about if anyone died and their funeral was protested by people saying he/she/it deserved to die because he/she/it was a liberal, and God punishes all liberals? I would speculate that the protestors would wind up with some busted heads (at least) before the day was through.

Yet, anytime there is a violent protest, it is liberals doing it, be it election protests, anti-abortion, anti-war, etc. And many times, especially at anti-war protests, it is the liberal protestors assaulting the few conservatives present.

Another issue, and why I truly believe these liberal protests are violent, is that conservatives are too busy AT THEIR JOBS to attend protests. Maybe that's why these lefties are so angry? Just a thought...

The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers

Why does this remind me of mu

May 8, 2007 - 15:45 ET by ForeverOnTheRight

Why does this remind me of muslims rioting because they where offended by a cartoon? On another note, why do liberals so often agree with our enemy's or is that why is that our enemy's agree with our liberals? 

Liberals tend to agree with o

May 9, 2007 - 07:30 ET by Beowulf

Liberals tend to agree with our enemies for a very simple reason - "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". As long as a republican is in power, then liberals will always take the opposing position. So, as long as a Republican is in power (their enemy), and is in conflict with, say, terrorists (the enemy of their enemy), then the Libs will side with the terrorists. The terrorists will take all the support they can get, from whatever quarter. And it can't be denied that the Dems and Libs (not necessarily the same) are providing support to the terrorists.

You can bet (and this is proven historically) that if a Democrat was president, the Libs and the MSM would (and have) sing a different tune. We would never even have heard about Gitmo, wiretapping, or international financial tracking. We would be doing wonderful things in Iraq, with the full support of the Iraqis. The UN would be backing us (for whatever good that would do). And God help the Republican who called the president a bad name or said the "war was lost"...

The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers

rioters in France

May 8, 2007 - 17:58 ET by Parkerz

Seems to me if the rioters are arrested and kept in jail, there won't be much violence on the streets, regardless of the legislation pushed through.

Now if you let them out ...