Word: mitterrand
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...perverse replay of 1978, Marchais undercuts Mitterrand...
...champion of the insolent and decadent aristocracy that dominates France." He reminded his audience that "the people rose up and assaulted the Bastille" in 1789, sweeping away "the old rotten regime." Then he turned with equal antagonism on the other main candidate, Socialist Leader François Mitterrand. Heaping scorn on his former partner in the now defunct coalition of leftist parties, Marchais disparaged Mitterrand's socialist and working-class credentials. "He passes his time soliciting the confidence of the business community," said Marchais. He went on to urge his troops to turn out in record numbers...
Giscard landed the first blows. During a televised panel interview, he taunted principal rival Mitterrand, a two-time loser in previous election bids, for his record as France's most unsuccessful presidential candidate. Giscard charged that sooner or later Mitterrand would be forced to make a deal with the Communists. The pointed implication: he would not be able to get elected, or govern, without Communist support...
...Mitterrand retaliated with a broadside of his own. Speaking in a televised campaign appearance, he called Giscard Moscow's "little mailman," a malicious reference to charges that the French President had conveyed word from Leonid Brezhnev last year of a phony Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The President, he continued, had received a virtual endorsement from the Soviet newspaper Pravda for his secret meeting with Brezhnev last May. Said Mitterrand: "I understand why Pravda is content with Mr. Giscard d'Estaing. I did not wait eleven days to protest the invasion of Afghanistan." Fortunately, he added...
Giscard lieutenants, who only the day before had talked smugly about remaining above the fray, could no longer contain themselves. Foreign Minister Jean François-Poncet blasted Mitterrand for his lack of patriotism and the "rudeness of his expression." Fumed Prime Minister Raymond Barre: "As a Frenchman, I was revolted...