Christine Boutin’s latest Twitter gaffe - lacking dignity and class

You know some people (politicians in particular) should not be allowed anywhere near a microphone. It only encourages them to utter the most absurd ideas in the mistaken belief that they’re making sense.

Similarly they should think twice - nay thrice - before allowing themselves to share the benefit of their “thoughts” on social media platforms.

Nadine Morano springs to mind. A classic example of someone who’s “good” for a soundbite although many would probably wish she were less of a buffoon.

And then there’s Christine Boutin.

Sigh.

Another “serial offender”.

(caricature of) Christine Boutin “La vache qui prie” - although there’s none of the “tendrement conne” in her latest Tweet (screenshot from Canal + Le Grand Journal video, February, 2016).

Yes, the ex-housing minister and founder and former president of the Christian Democratic Party, well-known for her opposition to civil partnership (for two men or two women) and same-sex marriage (and currently appealing a fine for having said that homosexuality was an “abomination”) has taken to the Twittersphere with her usual “panache”.

This time around though, there’s none of the eye-rolling “here she goes again” reaction. Rather she has committed what many consider to be a monumentally offensive gaffe.

As you might know the former French president, Jacques Chirac, has been hospitalised.

The 83-year-old reportedly has a lung infection, the most recent in a series of health scares.

His wife, Bernadette, has also been admitted, suffering from exhaustion.

A number of French politicians, including the front runners for Les Républicains primary Alain Juppé and Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as the current French president, François Hollande, have “expressed their support” for Chirac and his wife.

Enter stage right Boutin, finger-twitching presumably to announce in just three words on Twitter the death of Jacques Chirac - remembering to use the hashtag of course!

And how did she react when faced with the obvious truth that she had got it all wrong (yet again).

By defending herself in claiming that the information had come from “ a reliable source” and that she had shared it because, in her words, “I think the French are waiting for it, as shown by the buzz it has generated.”

Nothing like an apology!

And Boutin’s response was nothing like and apology.

What class.

It might not be easy understanding Bernadette Chirac...but

If you've been following French politics recently, it will surely not have escaped your notice that Bernadette Chirac has been making the headlines.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot Europe 1 January 2014)

Her outspoken (and some would say "fervent") support for Nicolas Sarkozy in his campaign to become leader of the centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP) and possible run to be the party's candidate in the 2017 presidential elections has most probably both amused and bemused many French.

Especially as it has been accompanied by unapologetic salvoes fired at Alain Juppé, the man who would most likely present Sarkozy with the strongest challenge in the planned primary to choose the party's candidate for 2017 but of whom Bernadette said, "he's a very unwelcoming person. He doesn't win over people, friends and potential voters."

In a recent piece in Le Figaro entitled "Dans la tête de Bernadette Chirac" writer and journalist, Irina de Chikoff, gives some insight into the behaviour of France's former first lady.

And it certainly seems that Bernadette, wearing her trademark sunglasses whenever she's being interviewed, is far from being the cantankerous old lady set on saying and doing anything and everything to annoy her husband, Jacques Chirac, French president from 1995 to 2007 of course.

The time when Bernadette dutifully (and most often quietly) remained in the shadows of her husband is over and now she feels able to speak freely.

But it's not something that has happened overnight.

Instead, it's a process that began, by Bernadette's own admission,  back in 1997 when Chirac dissolved parliament a year before its term was up thinking the French would support him and return a majority allowing the re-appointment of Juppé as prime minister.

Chirac though had misread the electorate and it was a left-wing coalition of the Socialist party, Communists and Greens which obtained a majority, enabling Lionel Jospin to become prime minister and forcing five years of cohabitation or what Chirac described as "paralysis" as his political influence on domestic policy was "constrained" - to put it mildly.

"I was absolutely against the idea of dissolution and I told him," she admitted to Laurent Delahousse during a recent edition of "Un jour, un destin" on France 2, dedicated to France's former first lady.

Bernadette's  dislike and distrust of Juppé is as deep-rooted as her husband's admiration and support for the man he has described as "the best among us".

And her support for Sarkozy?

Well for Chikoff, it's not a case of Bernadette trying to annoy her husband.

Rather she sees in Sarkozy the same sort of energy and resilience Chirac once had.

"She holds no grudges against him (Sarkozy) - well almost none - for the times when he might have been politically disloyal to her husband," writes Chikoff.

"She would have liked to have had a son like Nicolas and that's why she's prepared to indulge him...as any mother would."

So, if Sarkozy wins November's battle for the leadership of the UMP and decides to take a run for the party's primary, we can probably expect to here more - plenty more - from the lady behind the sunglasses.

Be prepared.



Bernadette Chirac se mobilise pour les... by Europe1fr

Jacques and Bernadette Chirac's political devide

It must be...er...interesting in the Chirac household at the moment.

The former French president, Jacques, and his wife, Bernadette, are apparently at odds over who to support in the primary to choose the candidate for the centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP) in the 2017 presidential elections.

Yep. It might seem a long way off, but hey ho, that hasn't stopped the political posturing.

Mind you, it's not exactly Jacques who's saying anything.

Rather it's the former first lady, Bernadette, who's taking potshots at one of the candidates already declared, Alain Juppé.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot Europe 1 interview, January 2014)

Bernadette is a fervent supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy - both to head the UMP when the party chooses its leader in November and in the race to be its candidate for 2017, even though he hasn't officially declared his interest in running (although only a fool would vote against him doing so).

And the 81-year-old apparently has little or no time for Juppé - widely seen as Sarkozy's main challenger should he actually decide to seek the party's nomination.

"Juppé? What has Juppé got in common with Sarkozy?" she said when interviewed at the weekend.

"Alain Juppé is a very unwelcoming person. He doesn't win over people, friends and potential voters," she continued.

"You know, when important elections are approaching, you need someone with exceptional qualities. There are very few people around like that. I know, because my husband was president twice," she added.

Surely a clear indication that, as far as she's concerned, Juppé lacks the "exceptional qualities" which presumably Sarkozy has.

That might be Bernadette's assessment of Juppé's qualities - or lack thereof. But her husband apparently doesn't share her opinions.

Chirac didn't actually say as much himself.

Instead it was Juppé who revealed that the former president, under whom he served as prime minister from 1995-1997, was as loyal to him now as he had been in the past.

"Bernadette Chirac's remarks don't concern me at all," he said.

"The image of being seen as 'cold' is something that belongs to the past and there are stereotypes that always stay with you. Do you think the people of Bordeaux (the city of which he is mayor) consider me to be 'cold'?" he continued.

"I saw Jacques Chirac recently. We spent a great together and he confirmed his feeling that I was 'probably one of the best among us' (a reference to what Chirac had said of him back in the early 1990s)

And finishing with style and flourish, Juppé added, "You know, Jacques Chirac is loyal. He doesn't change his mind. And besides, I don't really want to get involved in matrimonial differences - whatever they might be."



As a timely aside, Juppé, who received an 18-month suspended sentence and a 10-year ban from running for political office (reduced to 14 months and one year respectively on appeal) in 2004 for abuse of public funds, was awarded the Press Club of France's prize for political humour 2014 on Monday for a comment which just about sums up French politics (and certainly Juppé's political career).

"In politics, it's never over. Look at me!"

French TV's "double take" interview on Opération Pièces Jaunes

It can be hard reporting on an event that happens annually and, at the same time, finding something new to say.

That clearly though didn't seem to be a thought running through the mind of TF1's prime time news anchor Gilles Bouleau recently as he interviewed France's former, former first lady Bernadette Chirac.

Gilles Bouleau (screenshot from Le Petit Journal report)

The woman with the impossible "hair don't" was invited into the studio in her capacity as president of la Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris – Hôpitaux de France which, every year, organises Opération Pieces Jaunes to collect that unwanted small change we all have in our wallets, purses or pockets, to help children in French hospitals.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot from Le Petit Journal report)

Anyway there was Chirac, in the studio with ageing French rocker Johnny Hallyday sitting beside her and Bouleau clearly determined to take a less than original approach to the questions he posed.

In fact his style and, more importantly, content bore a striking resemblance to the interview he conducted at around the same time last year.

Virtually word for word, Bouleau repeated the same questions, eliciting more or less the same sort of response.

Ah. That's real probing and exhaustive journalism at its best "copy and paste".

Take a listen to what those ever vigilant folk over at Le Petit Journal on Canal + put together (it's in French naturally but even if you don't understand a word you'll be able to hear that Bouleau asks more or less - maybe more "more" than "less" - the same questions 12 months apart).


20h de TF1: Gilles Bouleau se copie-colle par LeHuffPost

Perhaps the 51-year-old was taking too literally the words he uttered at one point that, "small change has been given a second life for almost 24/25 (2013/2014 interviews) years," in believing the same was true of his interview.

Bravo.

Sarkozy's Villepinte campaign speech allows Bernadette Chirac forty winks

Le Petit Journal has been up to its usual tricks on Canal +, treating viewers to a different sort of look as to what happened at Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign rally last weekend at Villepinte, a town in the northeastern suburbs of Paris.

The programme is of course irreverent and certainly doesn't take either itself or the subjects it chooses to "investigate" too seriously.

But it certainly provides a refreshing, if somewhat cynical, look at political news stories and what's behind them.

Monday's edition, introduced as usual by host Yann Barthès, decided to take a look at THE political event of the weekend; Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign rally at Villepinte.

You know the rally: the one at which, among other things, he threatened to suspend France's participation in Schengen if re-elected.

Sarkozy spent over an hour addressing an adoring crowd of activists who, as Le Petit Journal showed viewers, had been put in the mood by the appropriate warming-up beforehand.

Yes it was a grand show.

While the event's cameras were trained on Sarkozy, Le Petit Journal decided to concentrate on the reactions of those Big Cheeses seated in the front row, some of whom would also be addressing the masses.

They included prime ministers, past and present, Édouard Balladur, Alain Juppé and François Fillon; not a facial muscle moving as they listened (and inwardly groaned).

Much larger than life actor Gérard Depardieu was there, looking decidedly flushed and first lady, Carla-Bruni-Sarkozy, and Jean-François Copé, leader of the governing Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party seemed to be having quite a natter - perhaps they had already heard the speech too many times.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot from Le Petit Journal)

And then there, true to her word, was Bernadette Chirac, the woman who had in a recent interview with RTL radio said that she would be a "fervent supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy" during his campaign.

But at 78, the effort was beginning to show as the former first lady bravely fought to shake off the descending eyelid syndrome which overcomes many of us when unable to concentrate or simply not that interested.

It was the most courageous of attempts but...not surprisingly, she lost.

Well until the applause stirred her, that is.

Now what's her husband, former president Jacques Chirac, up to?

Le Petit Journal du 12/03 - People attitude à Villepinte

Chirac's dog retires to the country

Not everyone loves a shaggy dog story as they tend to go on for far too long and when the climax is eventually reached the listeners are often left scratching their heads wondering what exactly the point of the whole thing was.

Well to keep things as short as possible, here's a tale with a happy end - of sorts - involving what is supposed to be man's best friend.

It centres on the problems the former French president, Jacques Chirac, had been having with his beloved maltese bichon, Sumo, named in honour of his passion for the Japanese sport.

Sumo obviously didn't take to leaving "his" presidential digs at the Elysée palace back in May 2007 when Chirac and his wife, Bernadette, moved out and Nicolas Sarkozy moved in.

Perhaps the dog was missing the political limelight, but as Bernadette explained in an interview earlier this year shortly after Sumo had bitten her husband, he had "got into the habit of nipping a little. Not everyone and not all the time."

The former first lady's explanation for the dog's erratic behaviour was that the little fellow "missed the garden the other animals and the freedom he had in the gardens of the Elysée palace."

Sumo was miserable she admitted and being treated with antidepressants.

Since then however, things seem to have gone from bad to worse.

The dog bit his master on two subsequent occasions, and the most recent attack made the Chiracs realise that his behaviour had simply become too aggressive.

"I was reading in a room while Sumo was lying on the floor," the former first lady said this week of the third and final incident.

"When my husband arrived he (Sumo) jumped and bit him in the stomach," she continued.

"I was very frightened because my husband was bleeding....and Sumo wanted to jump up and bite him again."

Rather than run the risk of Sumo injuring her husband again, the couple decided that it was time for him (Sumo) to move on.

He has since been found a new home in the country, living with friends of the family on a farm in the département of Seine et Marne, where he is apparently "very happy"...and no longer bites.

Chirac's chivalry - old habits die hard

Ah yes they do indeed.

Here's a video that has been creating quite a buzz on the Net here in France this past week after it first aired on the television channel Canal Plus on Wednesday.

Le Petit Journal : Jacques Chirac gaulé
by CANALPLUS

It's hard not to smile, and it really doesn't matter whether you speak French.

All you need to know as background is that Chirac, has quite a reputation for...er.... "gallantry" towards the "fairer sex" might be the best way to describe it.

Indeed in a book published shortly before he left office in 2007, he admitted that there was more than a little truth to the widely held belief that he was something of a "Don Juan".

At the same time his wife of 53 years, Bernadette, has been seen down the years as a woman with the proverbial patience of a saint.

And a recent incident shows perhaps just how much of a sharp eye the former French first lady still keeps on the wandering one of her 77-year-old husband.

It occurred as Bernadette was about to give a speech in front of an invited audience and in the first row behind her is the former president, happily ready to sit up and take notice.

But that's not exactly what happens.

Rather than listening to what his wife has to say, Chirac is seen to be apparently more concerned with making an effort to find a seat for a woman who doesn't appear to have a place.

Once an extra chair has been found (at his request) and placed next to the former president, Chirac then proceeds to engage the woman in a none-too discreet whispered conversation.

All the while of course, Bernadette continues to try to give her speech and maintain her composure....until she turns around and gives him "that" look, which says just about everything you need to know.

Chirac's dog's bite is worse than its bark - apparently

Sad news from France - of sorts.

In the same week that the former president, Jacques Chirac, ranked second in a poll of this
country's most popular political figures, there now comes word that he has been bitten by his dog.

All right, don't all pass out in astonishment, It's maybe not the most important story to appear here.

But it's the end of what seems to have been a particularly long working week, and the weather outside is very "January". So why not a doggy yarn?

After all the world's media has been keeping close track of canine developments on the other side of the Pond, and hasn't "Marley and Me" been packing 'em in at cinemas across the US recently?

Anyway, so what about this French doggy tale, I hear you (not) clamouring.

Well, it doesn't concerns a poodle or a labrador, or even for that matter a hybrid of the two - virtually unknown to these shores - the labradoodle.

Instead it centres on a "charming" little maltese (bichon) who goes by the rather inappropriate moniker of Sumo (named in honour of the former president's passion for the Japanese sport).

In an interview with the weekly magazine VSD (Vendredi Samedi Dimanche) Bernadette, the wife of the former president said that Sumo was on anti-depressants and was not taking to life away from the political limelight too well.

"He has got into the habit of nipping a little. Not everyone and not all the time," she said.

"But he bit my husband, which is rather a surprise as he (Jacques) adores the dog.

"I think he obviously misses the garden, the other animals in Paris and the walks, but it's not just that," she went on to explain.

"He also had a lot of freedom in the gardens of the Elysée palace (the French president's official residence). He was very happy and there were always plenty of people around. Now he sees far fewer people."

The story has perhaps for many been taking up far too many column inches in the French press during a week when there have been plenty of other news stories around, but that didn't stop the website of the left-of centre weekly news magazine, Nouvel Observateur, bringing its readers further revelations.

It quotes an interview given by Bruno Legrand, the man who gave Sumo obedience classes with the animal welfare foundation 30 millions d'amis.

Legrand says a great deal of the fault for Sumo's recent erratic behaviour has to be laid fair and square at the hands of the former president.

"What happened is typical of hierarchical aggression," Legrand explained.

"When I was giving obedience classes to the dog, it was principally with Madame Chirac and on the rare occasions when Monsieur Chirac was there, he was overly kind to the dog," he continued.

"In other words he broke some of the most elementary rules required in the education of a dog."

The solution now he suggests would to be to re-establish the correct hierarchy within the country's former first family.

So there you have it. Quite literally the end (for the moment) of a shaggy dog story.

Are there (political or domestic) lessons to be learned by the current incumbent at the Elysée, Nicolas Sarkozy, from his predecessor?

After all when Carla moved in she also brought with her Tumi the chihuahua - property of her son Aurélien.

And looking further afield, let's just hope that a certain family newly ensconced in the White House doesn't make the mistake of choosing a similarly ill-mannered mutt (as Sumo) in their much-reported search for the perfect pet pooch.

Woof.