Word: royalities
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...surprisingly, having Royal deliver an apology for a nation presumably shamed by the words of its own president caused Sarkozy's fellow conservatives to hit the roof. Dominique Paillé, a spokesman for Sarkozy's ruling Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) party, charged it was in fact "the behavior of Madame Royal that dishonors France." Citing the Elysée's denial that Sarkozy ever made the comments, Paillé argued that Royal's saying sorry for them "tarnishes our nation's image abroad for reasons that were false." On Saturday, another UMP spokesman...
...Royal has made a habit of making apologies for Sarkozy, which she's found to be an effective way of pushing conservatives' buttons. Her letter to Zapatero was the second time in two weeks that she caused an uproar by extending France's regrets for Sarkozy's utterings. On April 6, Royal asked an audience in Senegal's capital Dakar to pardon France for a controversial speech the president gave there shortly after his election in 2007. In the speech, Sarkozy said "the African man has not sufficiently entered history" as a result of becoming caught in an "eternal...
...Though those comments were set within the context of Sarkozy seeking to replace France's dysfunctional-and often harmful-post-colonial relationship with Africa with a more open and democratic one, his comments were widely criticized as caricaturizing and racist. In recalling them during her Dakar visit, Royal asked for "pardon for those humiliating words that never should have been spoken, and which-I tell you in all certainty-represent neither France or the French people...
...French conservatives responded with immediate outrage-just as Royal had intended. Indeed, given the unbridled fury that both of Sarkozy's public pronouncements produced, one might expect Royal's serial apologizing to have thrilled fellow Socialists. Think again. Though most leftists were pleased to see Sarkozy squirm during the international press storm his reported swipes at fellow leaders set off, few approved of Royal's apology on behalf of a nation that had said "no thanks" to her offer to lead it. (Read "Mon Dieu! Chirac More Popular Than Sarkozy...
...speak in France's name, because that role isn't hers," Socialist legislator Jean-Marie Le Guen said on Monday on French news channel LCI, noting that even if Royal's criticism of Sarkozy's Dakar comments was justified, her penchant for apologies isn't. "A rhetoric based on excusing oneself is out of line, it seems to me, in the same way that the rhetorical foundation of Sarkozy's [insults...