Ségolène postpones US tour after Hillary snub

[liberalpragmatist]

Ségolène postpones US tour after Hillary snub
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 18/12/2006



Ségolène Royal, the French Socialist presidential candidate, postponed a "triumphant" US tour planned for this week after Hillary Clinton declined to meet her, it was claimed yesterday.

Miss Royal, the first Frenchwoman with a realistic chance of becoming president in elections in April, officially put off her tour until late January or February due to fatigue after visits to the Middle East and Portugal.

But in reality the decision appears to have been influenced by her failure to secure what would have been a symbolic meeting with Mrs Clinton, the Democrat senator whose ambition is to become America's first female president.

An unnamed advisor to Mrs Clinton told the newspaper Le Parisien that appearing next to a French Socialist who recently met an official of the Hizbollah movement in Lebanon could be construed as condoning the beliefs of the militant Shia group. The Democrats also have little in common with French Socialism, which supports massive state intervention, a huge civil service, and regularly lambasts "US world hegemony".

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/18/wfra18.xml

[Selatius]

1. The Democratic Party is to the right of many leftist parties in Europe.

Hell, most center-leftists in Europe would rather maintain the status quo with respect to social spending and things like, for instance, universal health care. The US hasn't even come that far.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Their system works

Not perfectly, mind you, but the basics are there. Nobody is "food insecure" and nobody dies because of poverty and not being able to afford medical care.

Add to that a healthy trade unionism and respect for workers and work conditions and you have a thriving population, through good times or bad.

[Jim Lane]

45. No, the Democratic Party is to the right of ALL of them, and...

is probably to the right of some of the major right-wing parties in Europe. To take your example of universal health care: In the European countries that have it, not even the rightist parties are calling for its abolition, yet the Democrats can't get together behind supporting it.

[Canuckistanian]

2. That's it. Hillary's gone over the edge.

Nice triangulation, there, Hil!

[tabasco]

8. She leaped off the shark a long time ago.

I've become completely disgusted with her pandering ways.

[Joe Bacon]

23. What whould our WHORE PRESS say if she DID meet her...

You know what Sally Quinn would write...

"Senator Clinton has INSULTED the Moral Foundation of our country by meeting with an amoral Frenchwoman, a female version of her own husband. How DARE she meet with an immoral woman who lives out of wedlock with a man!"

Of course Sally's been Ben Bradlee's concubine for years, but that's OK...

[IndianaGreen]

33. If Hillary can't take it now, how would she perform as a nominee?

Sooner or later this overrated woman will have to take a stand with someone other than Joe Lieberman.

Everything Hillary has shown so far is evidence that she is not the person we want as the Democratic nominee, and that's without getting into her polarizing personna.

[VegasWolf]

34. Hillary Chickenshit, pouting over her image. nt

[madfloridian]

4. Guess who else she snubbed if that is true. Dean met with them in Europe.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/750

[Selatius]

7. Yes, thanks for reminding me of that. I was pleasantly surprised he met with European socialists.

I never would've expected somebody prominent within the Democratic Party actually meeting socialists out in the open like that. Then again, I guess that speaks more to the nature of how I perceive the Democratic Party and its leadership than anything else.

[madfloridian]

11. He was over there in September as well. In Spain.

I don't have a workable link, it was a press release.

"Howard Dean, Segolene Royal to attend Spanish Socialist congress
Mon Sep 4, 6:14 PM ET

US Democratic Party chief Howard Dean and possible French Socialist
presidential candidate Segolene Royal will attend a conference organised by
Spain's ruling Socialists in mid-September.

It will be the first time that the head of the Democrats will attend such a
conference, Jose Blanco of the Socialist (PSOE) party said.

Royal is expected in Madrid on September 15 and 16 and will take part in a
debate together with Spanish Vice-President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la
Vega, according to a programme published on Monday.

Royal said in a television interview on Monday that she was also due to meet
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during the visit, who
will close the conference on September 17.

Dean, a vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, serves as chairman of the
Democratic National Committee and ran to be the party's presidential nominee
in 2004, losing the candidacy to John Kerry."

[liberalpragmatist]

20. Democrats have met socialists often

The UK Labour Party (pre-Blair) was Socialist, and yet often had meetings with prominent Democrats.

Granted, the French Socialists are a little different b/c the U.S. and French party systems aren't very analogous.

But the article above reads that Segolene Royal was even scheduled to meet with Bill Clinton. Hillary wouldn't meet with her though - and the article implies the reason was the Hezbollah controversy.

[madfloridian]

5. And another meeting with Dean and Italy's Prodi.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/757

I hope that is not true about Hillary.

[Schema Thing]

6. well, it sure sounds like Hillary

[Pastiche423]

13. mad, you have a fabulous journal!

What a treat. I can't wait to read more of it.

[madfloridian]

14. Thanks, I enjoy doing it a lot.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

17. Dean with Denmark's Rasmussen....Socialists have control in over 51% of Europe

I think it is odd to just not work with them. We should, and let the right wing have its tantrums over the word socialist. They can't even stand the word liberal. Leave them to their stupidity and hate over words.



Chairman of the US Democratic party Howard Dean (L) laughs with Danish President of the European Socialist party Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (R) during the European Socialist Congress at the Alfandega building in Porto, Portugal. Last month's Congressional election wins by Democrats in the United States paves the way for a return to strong ties between Washington and Europe, leaders from over 30 European left-wing parties said at a two-day congress. Photo:Nicolas Asfouri/AFP

And may I say the world has been needing that kind of laughter for a long time.

[paulk]

36. how is Dean meeting with Prodi relevant?

:shrug:

[madfloridian]

37. Relevant to what? It was at the Socialists conference...

I felt like posting it, so I did. So how is your post relevant to what I posted? How is your post relevant to my posting about various events at the conference?

Here is the caption:

"United States Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, left, talks with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, center, along with President of PES group in European Parliament Martin Schulzs at far right, during the Party of European Socialists congress in Porto, northern Portugal, Friday,"
Dec. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Stringer)

It was at the same conference, so I posted it. I did not have a big consultation or conferring with all kinds of Democrats...I just effing posted it.

It is relevant because I said it was...

Now how is Hillary relevant anymore? Maybe it is time to start asking that question.

[paulk]

38. just asking, MF -

no reason to get so defensive....

I was curious because I follow Italian politics and Ms. Royal and Mr. Prodi don't really have all that much in common. So I didn't understand how a meeting between Dean and Prodi was relevant to a thread about HRC and Royal.

[katsy]

9. Ever the "candidate".

I'm disappointed in Hillary.

America has diplomatic relations the French whether Segolene is elected or not. Hillary knows this. Her reluctance to speak with Segolene smells of a bushite tantrum and we've had enough of that... "I won't talk to them of him or her blah blah bullshit." Then they go off starting wars. What the fuck attitude is this?

Has gone so far off the edge that any government that speaks for their people, like that of France & Venezuela are treated with more disdain than murderous fascist regimes?

I won't say any more because I'll support Hillary if she's the nominee, but I won't condone that kind of BS from Democrats and intend to let her know how I feel about this. Enough is enough.

[madfloridian]

15. The last paragraph is interesting.

"However, Jacques Lang, her special advisor, confirmed that meetings had been scheduled with Kofi Annan and Ban ki-Moon, his successor as the United Nations Secretary General, as well as the Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the former US president Bill Clinton."

She sounds like a fascinating lady...it is Hillary's loss.

[katsy]

16. She really does sound facinating, and I wish her luck.

Hillary's loss in more ways than one.

[IndianaGreen]

27. So the future French President Ms Royal will meet with Obama

I hope that in the future it will be President Royal meeting President Obama at the White House.

Boo on Hillary, the Pander Queen!

[burythehatchet]

10. Hillary couldn't carry Ségolène's jock

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. She's hot...heh heh

[truthisfreedom]

18. She's certainly easy on the eyes.

[w4rma]

19. So she won't even support another woman presidential candidate. I am supporting the ABH candidate.

Anybody But Hillary

[IndianaGreen]

26. And so am I

I don't care if the ABH candidate is named Kerry, Clark, Edwards, Richardson, or Obama. We must stop the former Goldwater girl from realizing her ambition of returning to the White House, this time as top female dog.

[ThatPoetGuy]

21. How reliable is this news item?

"the Democrat senator" is usually a tipoff that we're dealing with a biased source.

[liberalpragmatist]

22. Daily Telegraph is a center-right British paper

Not a tabloid - one of the "quality" dailies, as they're known.

However, British papers - even the "quality" ones - tend to be more sensationalistic, excitable, and speculative than American papers. Even a staid paper like the Times will often make a sweeping statement.

For example, an American candidate on a campaign trail might make a minor gaffe. Of course, it'll get major play on FOX and even CNN and MSNBC, but the major papers cover it fairly staid. British papers will have a headline something like "Democrats Terrified by So-and-So's Big Gaffe."

[IndianaGreen]

28. Not when the source is a British newspaper

"the Democrat senator" is usually a tipoff that we're dealing with a biased source.

The use of "Democrat senator" by a British publication is quite appropriate and does not have the same connotation as it would coming from an American source.

You have the Liberal-Democrats in England, a very successful political party, and they are always referred to as the Liberal Democrats.

[tabasco]

24. I volunteer to take Hillary's place !!!

I'M HYP-MO-TIZED!!!!

[IndianaGreen]

25. More signs and portends of why Hillary should not be President

Eight years of French bashing by the Bush regime, and here we are in Iraq! We don't need more of the same crap from Hillary.

I am also disturbed by what the Hillary lapdog had to say as to the reasons for the snub. It tells me that Hillary truly represents a failed one-sided American foreign policy in the Middle East, a policy which is partly responsible for our being in Iraq in the first place.

The comments about French Socialists is equally disturbing. Do they mean that Hillary supports the conservatives? They do indicate that Hillary is smack in the ideological middle of the DLC's Al From, a man that wants to embrace Reaganomics without Reagan.

Hillary represents the past, America needs to turn a page to the future, and we won't do that with people like Hillary in the White House.

[Zenlitened]

29. "... it was claimed..." "...it appears..." "... an unnamed advisor..."

Yes, another entry for Great Moments in Journalism!

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

And yet, somehow, an interesting blip in the time-line of this International Incident made it into the story:

... But the main problem, said the advisor, stemmed from Miss Royal's association with the Hizbollah official, who denounced the "unlimited dementia of the American administration" and likened Israel's foreign policy to "Nazism".

After initially saying she agreed with his "analysis of the role of the United States", Miss Royal later condemned the remarks and said that they had been mistranslated.

When is a snub not a snub, but rather a decision to steer clear of a political firestorm-in-progress?

:shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

30. Hillary is a coward!

She was silent about Israel's bombing of Beirut. She was silent about torture. She was silent about America's war crimes. She was silent about our loss of civil liberties.

Hillary was not silent when it came to attacking John Murtha for calling for a troop withdrawal, or in opposing Kerry's troop withdrawal resolution, or his filibuster of the Alito nomination.

And here is the biggest cowardice of all: when the Iraq Study Group issued its report, Hillary chose to hold a press conference with Joe Lieberman to talk about censoring video games!

[bikebloke]

31. Ségolène will make history.

While Hillary will end up in history's dustbin.

Why are amerikans so afraid of better life quality. Europe's social democracy works, unless you're a greedy parasitical capitalist. And they'll admit it's not perfect, but there's flexibility to adjust and try new ideas.

[IndianaGreen]

32. Since kindergarten, Americans have been conditioned to salivate

the moment they hear the word "socialist." Our educational system is geared to turn students into obedient consumers, not critical thinkers.

[lastliberalintexas]

35. Because we are taught that we might one day be part of the Elite

The American Dream blather and all that. In the meantime, many vote against their own economic self interest in the hopes that one day they won't need those social safety net programs.

The unfortunate part is that so many people in the US really do believe that they will one day be rich.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

39. I once had hope for Hillary.

That point is long since past. She is a warhawk, pandering to the right at every turn, and she is in bed with the "Healthcare" industry, Big Pharma, and numerous other money machines.

Segolene Royal will be President of France long before Hillary is eliminated from contention in the primaries, and the world will be a better place for both of these eventualities.

In Europe, the discussion of the plight of the Palestinian people is not poisoned by the bribes, coercion and propaganda of AIPAC and their numerous, well-remunerated apologists.

[IndianaGreen]

42. You make excellent points, La_Fourmi_Rouge

We don't need another President in the White House that will look the other way whenever Israel bombs civilian populations, and protects Israel by an endless succession of vetos in the UN Security Council.

[judaspriestess]

40. there is such a thing as being 'too careful'

Mrs. Clinton and it can come back to haunt you.

[gula]

41. You're surprised?

Hillary is a first class b*. As a Canadian I can only hope that she will never get near the White House. She more than anybody else kept insisting that the US Sept 11th terrorists came through Canada. She has yet to apologize. An opportunist to equal any repug.

[Vidar]

43. Good for Ms. Royal

[madfloridian]

44. Could this statement have made Hillary skittish? Real truth?

"Royal has never withdrawn a more official foreign policy declaration on America's incapacity for change.

"Make no mistake," she told an international group in October, "a less conservative government could succeed Bush and dialogue with the United States might be easier. But it's in the nature of a solitary power without a counterweight to make unilateral decisions and be tempted by the use of force."

Europe, Royal said, "is the single peaceful power capable of representing an alternative to American hyperpower."

http://pigilito.blogspot.com/2006/12/frenchwoman-sgolne-royal-and-hillary.html

Disclaimer: I am not familiar with this blog. I just was looking up what might have upset Hillary so much. I guess being a candidate keeps Hillary from being herself. It will be left to those like Howard Dean with nothing left to lose to make the overtures to groups like this in Europe.

Dean in Portugal : "Time for the United States to renew our relationships around the world"

Many European governments have been angered by Republican President George W. Bush's war in Iraq and what is regarded as his failure to work with allies in international affairs.

"It is time for the United States to renew our relationships around the world," Dean said, triggering applause. "It is time we treat our allies with respect and honesty.

"The Democratic Party is committed to consensus-building, bilateral and multilateral relationships."

The U.S. should start to work with Europe to tackle global warming, defend human rights and adopt a multilateral approach to the conflict in Iraq, Dean said.