Wednesday, March 31, 2004
YOU ... YOU ... FRENCH-LOOKING PERSON!
There's a new insult in town and it hasn't yet been declared politically incorrect. Au contraire, it's politically au courant. The new f word is: ... [wait for it] ... "French."
Spinsanity has engaged in some dishy trend spotting:
Spinsanity has engaged in some dishy trend spotting:
• An anonymous Bush advisor seems to have started the ball rolling by leaking that presidential hopeful John Kerry "looks French" to the New York Times way back in April. (This week pollster David Hill found he's started "acting French" as well.)Yeah, it's true that all the spitballs are directed in one direction, at one person even. Spinsanity decries this as "manipulative political rhetoric." But I think they're missing the point. Americans are desperate for a new general-purpose insult that won't get them fined by the FCC. Thank you John Kerry! You're an inspiration.
• James Taranto later made a similar charge, then added insult to injury by accusing Kerry of "favoring a French-style high-tax regime" and flying around in "a black, French-made twin-engine six-seater" helicopter.
• Rush Limbaugh has fallen hard for the trend, adding the Frenchy nickname "Jean Cheri" to the mix. (An unnamed "Republican strategist" prefers "Jacques Kerry;" Wesley Pruden of the Washington Times dubbed him "Monsieur Kerry.")
• Republican National Committee weighed in with a fact sheet revealing that, quel horror!, Kerry has a French cousin.
• Kerry is called the "The rage of Paris ..." and "more French than American" (this, the opinion of ... French people).
• Although Kerry famously made his bid to be the second black President, Mark Steyn opines he'd be our "first French president."
