"Worse Than Bush!": Gingrich and His "Criminal Remarks" Are Driving Frenchmen Up the Wall

Last week, he was a real bad guy (as well as the Big Bad Newt), earlier this week, he was electrifying (in the negative sense), as well as divisive, and today (quoting a Jonah Goldberg article; not surprisingly, MSM reporter Corine Lesnes reads the Los Angeles Times but not Townhall), he is Newtzilla! And all that in Le Monde's… headlines!

Of course, we also get comments from horrified readers complaining of Newt's "criminal" remarks, sputtering that "Gingrich is worse than Bush," not only in terms of fiscal matters, "but also in terms of foreign policy", and regretting, basically, the existence of elections and of democracy…

Add to that the opening sentence which may be one of the most condescending in the history of the mainstream media:

Despite his Playmobil-style haircut and the face of an aging baby, Newt Gingrich and his carnivorous smile are not fooling anyone.

Malgré sa coupe de cheveux façon Playmobil et son visage de poupon vieillissant, le sourire carnassier de Newt Gingrich ne trompe personne.

The Corinne Lesnes article goes on to refer to the "savvy" Newt as "controversial" (we already had him being divisive) and to call his policies "at best unrealistic and at worst demagogic."

…les propositions de Gingrich ne brillent pas par leur originalité. … ce plan paraît au mieux irréaliste, au pire démagogique.

Corinne Lesnes goes on to quote… Mother Jones and the New Yorker, ending her piece — from an allegedly serious daily, aka France's newspaper of record — with John Cassidy's tongue-in-cheek "festive" list of the "40 Nicest Things [You Can Think of to Say] About Newt" (Number 1: “He’s the one to get Obama reelected”).

Et ses adversaires ne vont pas le rater. La chasse est déjà ouverte : sur le mode de la dérision, The New Yorker a organisé un appel à contributions pour établir une liste des "40 choses les plus sympathiques que l'on peut dire sur Newt Gingrich". Numéro un de ce vrai-faux concours de gentillesse : "Gingrich est celui grâce à qui Obama sera réélu."

That's right, the French are echoing liberals' snarkiness and getting voluble about the Republican's embrace of Gingrich ensuring Obama's reelection.

Avec un peu de chance les républicains l’élisent... et le peuple américain effaré renouvelle B Obama !

At which point, all we can say is this: there can't be many better arguments in favor of an American's opinions and policies being the correct ones than the fact that he leaves the French spitting with contempt and hating his guts. And there can hardly be a better argument for the that man to run for president of the United States on the Republican ticket.