Dr. Jones: Sarkozy: More popular when he's tough on crime...

The MSM were proclaiming Nicholas Sarkozy's political career dead and buried in the wake of the Paris riots. He's the French Interior Minister who called the rioters "scum" and "said he would use a power hose to 'clean up' the suburbs" (From The Economist--no link).

But The Economist notes that a recent French poll puts Sarkozy--a fairly pro-competition, pro-creative-destruction politician--at a 63% approval rating. That's up 11% from last month. So, since the riots, since he took a "tough on crime" approach, since he was declared out of touch with modern sensibilities by the MSM, he's up by 11.

Sounds like being out of touch may be a path to victory--as long as it's the MSM you're out of touch with....

Another interesting point--As I predicted at the beginning of the riots, the riots themselves seem to be pushing France to see the benefits of affirmative action (as the Times of London link indicates). Getting a lot of immigrants employed quickly is probably a good way to tamp down some of France's simmering rage. Nothing like a 9 to 5 desk job to sap the will to revolt......

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Orig. Posted by Garett Jones at 12/01/2005 01:51:00 AM