Monsieur Sarkozy, vous êtes complètement taré ou quoi?
After a bunch of German neo-Nazis looked around for a name they could legally use over 30 years ago, they settled on a name that apparently provided them with enough inspiration to adopt it for themselves. Reagan was in his first term, creating all sorts of messes, and so the neo-Nazis, led by a former SS officer, called themselves "Die Republikaner." They even made it up into single digits (as opposed to fractions) in a local election or two before fading back into deserved obscurity. Republicans always used to get mad when I pointed out that German neo-Nazis were using their name. They used to angrily retort, "are you calling us Nazis?" I would answer, "no, I just find it noteworthy that German neo-Nazis find you inspiring enough to adopt your name."
So now Sarkozy's "conservative" opposition in France, which is, in many aspects, probably to the left of anything we'd ever dare to put before the American electorate, just ditched their (admittedly cumbersome) former name and they now call themselves "Les Républicains."
Besides making all of Germany gag in disgust, how does he think this will go over if the next American president is a Democrat (at this point, I'd say probably) and he replaces Hollande in a rematch (if not likely, then at least a good shot) in 2017?
I realize that "la République" carries special connotations in France and in the French language, but sheeeesh, couldn't they have come up with ANY other name than that?
