Bill Maher loves America. And Americans. Just, you know—not the dumb ones. Or the ones who don’t run in the right circles. Or the ones who adhere to antiquated moral codes that would make snorting coke off the shaved pubis of a 17-year-old sound all dirty.
He is, after all, a self-styled libertarian. And nothing appeals more to libertarians than quasi-socialist France:
New rule: conservatives have to stop rolling their eyes every time they hear the word France. Like just calling something French is the ultimate argument winner. “Aw, you want a health-care system that covers everybody and costs half as much? You mean like they have in France? What’s there to say about a country that was too stupid to get on board with our wonderfully conceived and brilliantly executed war in Iraq?”
Uh, maybe that they’re paying for their health care system by taking kickbacks from tyrants?
And of course, it probably helps that they aren’t reproducing, and that they let their old folks bake like wizened Brie whenever it gets really hot.
But let’s not get off message:
Earlier this year, the Boston Globe got hold of an internal campaign document from GOP contender Mitt Romney, and a recurring strategy was to tie Democrats to the hated French. It said, in the Machiavellian code of the election huckster, “Hillary equals France,” and it envisioned bumper stickers that read FIRST, NOT FRANCE.
Except for one thing: We’re not first. America isn’t ranked anywhere near first in anything except military might and snotty billionaires. The country that is ranked No. 1 in health care, for example, is France. The World Health Organization ranks America at 37 in the worldâ€â€not two, or fiveâ€â€37, in between Costa Rica and Slovenia, which are both years away from discovering dentistry. Yet an American politician could not survive if he or she uttered the simple, true statement, “France has a better health-care system than us, and we should steal it.” Because here, simply dismissing an idea as French passes for an argument.
Sometimes, yes. But at the same time, raising a WHO ranking without giving it context doesn’t pass for an argument, either—except for those who like to drop these kinds of factoids to show just how “educated” they are.
After all, Amnesty International just ranked the US and Australia with Zimbabwe and the Sudan in terms of human rights violators—a ranking so ridiculous on its face that it calls into question any and every “ranking” system that comes out of any international organization.
And it bears noting that Maher is citing a report released in 2000, one whose main ideological push seemed to be for universal health insurance, and whose standard for rankings is based on what experts believe is achievable based on a country’s resources:
In designing the framework for health system performance, WHO broke new methodological ground, employing a technique not previously used for health systems. It compares each country’s system to what the experts estimate to be the upper limit of what can be done with the level of resources available in that country. It also measures what each country’s system has accomplished in comparison with those of other countries.
WHO’s assessment system was based on five indicators: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system’s financial burden within the population (who pays the costs).
“We have created a new tool to help us measure performance,” says Dr Murray. “As we develop it further and strengthen the raw data used for these measures in the years to come, we believe this will be an increasingly useful tool for governments in improving their own health systems.”
Perhaps so. But the rankings themselves, then, are virtually useless: in the US, where wealth is greater, expectations are higher, and lapses in health care are often either voluntary or intentional (some single younger workers, for instance, may forego paying Cobra between jobs—or may simply put the money they would have spent on health insurance to other uses), the indicators are going to be heavily skewed against a largely private system.
Choice, simply put, is bad—because it “allows” people to make bad choices, which in turn will affect the way a country is ranked. Which is not to say the US doesn’t have room for improvement; just that health care in the US is being judged through a lens of socialized medicine—and it suffers in the rankings for having the most potential and the most resources.
Call me a skeptic, but I tend to doubt that were Bill Maher diagnosed with, say, prostate cancer, he’d hop a flight to Costa Rica. And were he diagnosed after a night of banging 15-year old Slovenian chicks for $6 American a throw, my guess is he’d opt for a return to the US to get treatment—even though we know that Slovenia is right there with us in terms of the WHO rankings.
Back to Bill:
I don’t want to be French, I just want to take what’s best from the French. Stealing, for your own self-interest.
Republicans should love this idea. Taking what’s best from the French: You know who else did that? The Founding Fathers. Hate to sink your toy boat, Fox News, but the Founding Fathers, the ones you say you revere, were children of the French Enlightenment, and fans of it, and they turned it into a musical called the Constitution of the United States. And they did a helluva job, so good it has been said that it was written by geniuses so it could be run by idiots.
But the current administration is putting that to the test. The Founding Fathers were erudite, well-read, European-thinking aristocratsâ€â€they would have had nothing in common with, and no use for, an ill-read xenophobic bumpkin like George W. Bush. The American ideas of individuality, religious tolerance and freedom of speech came directly out of the French Enlightenmentâ€â€but, shhh, don’t tell Alabama.
Is this truly what passes for insight in Maherland?
I mean, how many cliched tropes does one have to stick into a paragraph before it implodes and leaves behind the kind of black hole that not even Maher would want to dip in to?
Is having a southern accent, or believing in God, proof that one is an ill-read xenophobic bumpkin? George Bush is currently pushing for amnesty for illegals—hardly the mark of a xenophobe. And if anyone is adhering to the Enlightenment ideas concerning individuality, religious freedom, and free speech, it sure as hell ain’t the “progressives,” who push for quotas and speech codes, hate crimes legislation and the move to forcibly remove any vestiges of religion from the public sphere.
Perhaps Maher can talk to some French Muslims and ask them how well the French are doing with the individuality and religious freedoms thing these days.
[…] France just had an election, and people over there approach an election differently. They vote. Eighty-five percent turned out. The only thing 85 percent of Americans ever voted on was Sanjaya.
Maybe the high turnout has something to do with the fact that the French candidates are never asked where they stand on evolution, prayer in school, abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage. And if the candidate knows about a character in a book other than Jesus, it’s not a drawback. There is no Pierre Six-pack who can be fooled by childish wedge issues. And the electorate doesn’t vote for the guy they want to have a croissant with. Nor do they care about the candidate’s private lives: In the recent race, Ségolène Royal had four kids but never bothered to get married. And she’s a socialist.
Translation: “I don’t want to move to France. But wouldn’t it be cool if we could replace all the “red states” with the French population?
“Because it would be nice to have an orgy just once in, say, Idaho.”
In America, if a Democrat even thinks you’re calling him a liberal he immediately grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something. As for the French conservative candidate, he’s married but he and his wife live apart and lead separate lives. They aren’t asked about it in the media, and the people are OK with it, for the same reason the people are OK with nude beaches: because they’re not a nation of 6-year-olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts. They have weird ideas about privacy. They think it should be private.
Which is what Maher thinks.
Unless the person whose privacy is violated happens to be a Republican. In that case, the transgressions are fraught and instructive.
BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!
Maher’s condescension and disdain for Americans who don’t follow his libertine moral code is so thick he should consider using it as a lubricant the next time he finger bangs some wannabe starlet in the VIP room of a newly trendy LA hotspot. That way he wouldn’t have to spend all that money on manicures.
Or to put it another way, Maher is one of those people who is always telling you how much he loves America—if only it would conform to his will. Which, of course, would mean that it was no longer the kind of pluralist country that Enlightenment thought gave birth to—but what the hell. We’ll always have Paris Hilton.
France has its faultsâ€â€the country has high unemployment, a nasty immigrant problem and all that ridiculous accordion music. But its health care is the best, it’s not dependent on Mideast oil, it has the lowest poverty rate and the lowest income-inequality rate among industrialized nations, and it’s the greenest, with the lowest carbon dumping and the lowest electricity bill. France has 20,000 miles of railroads that work. We have the trolley at the mall that takes you from Pottery Barn to the Gap. It has bullet trains. We have bullets. France has public intellectuals. We have Dr. Phil. And France invented sex during the day, the ménage àtrois, lingerie and the tongue. And the French are not fat. Can’t we just admit we could learn something from them?
Sure. For instance, I’ve learned from them just how they’ve been able to engage in self-interested, corrupt, and cynical international politicking—and still hold the “civilized” high ground among a certain class of would-be American intellectuals: all they have to do is drop a line or two from Madame Bovary, tick off some Kristeva, and allow Marlon Brando to shove a stick of butter up their asses, and voila! Instant complexity!
Maher is the worst kind of American snob: a bitter, intolerant poser who has convinced himself that he’s both cultured and educated—a man so keen on being accepted by continentals that he’ll gleefully piss all over his own countrymen in order to curry the favor with those who would just as soon speak to a plate of fried clams than embrace a fawning Maher as anything other than a stroke to the country’s collective ego.
Damn, Jeff! It’s only Monday and already two scorchers. Weekends off do you good.
But save something in the tank for the rest of week, will you. I don’t know if I can take any more Giant Pig photos.
And the crowd goes wild!
Nice post Jeff. But one thing amazes me, who listens to that pompous ass anyway. Oh and the thought of Marlon Brando and a stick of butter up one’s ass is just plain wrong…….
Uh, no. Compare and contrast the American Revolution to the French Revolution. One of them involved show trials, mass graves and public beheadings, and ended with a dictatorship that plunged an entire contintent into war. The other one lacked those features, and took place in North America.
Uh, no:
I wouldn’t be that pleased to be dependent on Russian energy sources, either. Not exactly a stable or friendly power these days…
Fucking Strong.
Well Played.
C’mon, let it out—tell us how you really feel.
Bravo!
Don’t mean to quibble with that nice rant and all, but exactly where are the “progressives” who push for these things. I’ve read about the debate last night and I didn’t see one progressive argue that. My friends and I are liberal nutjobs and all we want to do is repeal tax cuts, get out Iraq, and restore civil liberties. Seems to me in a laundry list of things that would still piss you off, you could have chosen one of those.
Maher’s right, though, our country could benefit from some universal health care and France isn’t all bad.
I liked the bit about the Constitution and the Enlightenment. Seems like a “Classical liberal” would have too, but maybe I’m thinking Voltaire and you’re thinking Hobbes?
Some extremely astute commenter on another blog – I’d give credit if I could remember who & where it was – said that John Edwards was correct in saying there were “two Americas,” just wrong in the definition of the two categories.
Maher is definitely an exemplar of one America, the snotty urban elitist. What a nasty little piece of work he is.
Robert, our Founders were educated in the precepts of the Enlightenment. Blaming Voltaire and friends for something that happened almost a century after their demise is sort of like blaming Madison for Jim Crow laws.
Hey, and right on time, there’s timmah!
I think our country needs to start building lots of nuclear power plants tout de suite.
Well, if that’s wrong…
TW: training69. Wow.
That was one tasty smackdown.
And I’m with Dan on the nuke plants. Let’s start building a bunch of them. The sooner the better. That’s the only way I want to be like France.
PJ O’Rourke – “French ideas, French beliefs, and French actions form a sort of lodestone for humanity. A moral compass needle needs a butt end. Wherever direction France is pointing  toward collaboration with Nazis, accommodation with communists, existentialism, Jerry Lewis, or a UN resolution veto  we can go the other way with a quiet conscience.”
As Jeff points out, Maher neglects to mention why this wonderful healthcare system allowed 14000 people to bake to death, or the weekly riots in the banlieu that even the French police are scared to stop, and completely leaves out that little bit about the US Military liberating France a few decades ago.
Yeah, I think we have enough French in us already.
Mark Steyn called people like Maher (and timmah)
grotesque narcissists.
timmah
Pelosi and Reid are aggressively pursuing the “Fairness Doctrine”…aka Hugo-lite: how to handle your critics.
The most leftist institutions in the country are Universities..and they are the most hostile to anything resembling apostasy to the Left cult mentality. Have the Columbia students who physically assault Gilchrist had anything done to them? Yet look at how the Duke admin and 88 professors dealth with the rape hoax.
Universities rarely invite non-left speakers, and if a campus club DOES manage to get such a speaker, the university is off eating transfat-free, organic wheat donuts when the left-student-thugs decide to harass and shutdown the speaker.
Koskiddies simultaneously deride and dismiss any report of “plot foiled” when it deals with Islamist terror be it the Fort Dix Six or the JFK airport plot and also talk about how SERIOUS it is that the right-wing is poised to attempt an armed, violent coup d’ete if the Dems capture the Whitehouse in ‘08. (I call classic projection on the latter)
timmy, I know this falls on left ears, but stop embarrassing yourself.
and JeffG
Bravo. Not just for the delicious eviseration of Francophile Maher, but for actually enduring and surviving his pissant petulance.
I’ve never been able to get beyond more than a couple of minutes of his smirking tribute to his own inanity.
He’s an adult Eddie Haskel, without the looks or charm.
Rob, well put. Timmah, go check out FIRE’s website. They document the rise of speech codes, primarily in academia.
Maher should have stuck with teen-sploitation flicks.
Someone’s never seen a French farmer run a tractor through a McDonalds.
Oh right, that’s not a wedge issue, Mcdonalds is American and therefore evil.
You know what, the French are so good at farming the milk prices fell…to an unjustified level. So more tractors.
I do have to say I have been in an emergency room near Hagenau (I can’t spell it) after a drunken bicycle accident into some kind of man eating syphillis bush, and it compared pretty well with the last American Emergency room I was personally in (Grady Memorial in Atlanta) as a patient, with a lot fewer gunshot victims.
Rob Crawford:
Excellent point about Frnace’s energy concerns. There’s also this:
But, but, but sacre bleu! Zees plants, zey are not safe, n’est pas?
Greenpeace just had a collective grand mal seizure.
Thank Heaven the French reserve their political outrage and militancy for important stuff like combatting low wine prices. At least the politicians know it’s all about raising one’s standard of living.
The French system allows people to choose their providers. The UK is the one you want to rail against, not France.
I don’t see France as the same hellhole as you folks and I agree with Maher that there is much we Americans can learn from their society, as well as the rest of Europe. Why is this such a traitorous statement? Does France have problems with its immigrant population? Yes, but they don’t have 10,000 gun-related murders a year. No one is saying that we become France; we just need to stop viewing them as our enemy.
Just what exactly is wrong with trains that go 300 kph? What is so horrible about effective mass transit, free health care, 4 weeks of paid vacation, or even accordion music for that matter? France is our friend and has been for quite some time. America needs all of the allies we can get. The Right’s French-bashing has been more at odds with American interests than whatever Maher is saying.
I would say that about 99% of the criticism leveled at the French and their society is by people who have never been there. I suggest that you go for a visit. It’s a nice place. Before you go please learn a few basic words in French that lets them know that you know that English isn’t their official language. I have never had an anti-American experience in my years of travel there and when I started out my French was terrible. Like racism and anti-Semitism, this anti-French sentiment is based on ignorance and stupidity. Take your wife or girlfriend to Paris for a week and work this out. You won’t regret it.
Pablo,
Where do you think young muslims would rather live, France or the US?
It’s against French law to insult the President of France.
I’m guessing that Maher and his cronies wouldn’t be too happy with similar legislation here.
BTW, Maher might want to read some actual history. The ideas of the American Revolution owe much more to English and Scottish Enlightenment figures such as John Locke, Adam Smith, and David Hume than they do to any of those French waterheads. Frenchmen (such as Rousseau) took the work of the British dudes and crapped it up with a bunch of Noble Savage inanity. The British Enlightenment gave us the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The French “Enlightenment” gave us the Reign of Terror.
Oh, if only we could be more like the French! Maybe we’d have advanced to the stage of working on our Fifth Republic (with intervening Reigns of Terror, empires, anarchies, monarchies, and Nazi collaborationist regimes) rather than still limping along on our first.
I’m not railing against the French system. I’m pointing out flaws in the WHO ranking system that Maher doesn’t address. And the choice here is not about providers. It’s about a choice to purchase insurance to begin with.
And Pablo, I lived in Italy and have visited France. So no need to patronize this rube.
Besides, who said that anything Maher uttered was traitorous? Just fatuous.
Like strawman arguments and misdirection.
France is indeed an ally. When their interests coincide with ours. But you really should read up on Oil For Food before you go labeling the right’s criticism of France “French bashing” when what it really is the recognition that France is for France, and we really don’t need allies who would sell us out for kickbacks and a friendship with Saddam.
France is the joke, and the punchline is “I know what you are Madame, we’re just arguing over the price.”
Health care in France is not free. There can be a pretty big copay, especially for dental implants and eyewear. The poorest 10% do get the copay waived, that’s true, but just like in America, most people are on an 80/20 type plan. The difference is the gov’t is the insurance company. You can have private insurance to cover part of the cost not covered by the gov’t plan, this insurance is usually administered by your union. Unless you are self-employed. There’s no gatekeeper, which is nice, but I don’t have one either. And the govenment decides what kind of care is eligible for reimbursement, where the hospitals are and how mant beds and what kind of care you can get, need an MRI? might not be one in your local chop shop.
BTW, the government limits the number of medical students too.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that this is a bad plan. I once had a plan like this, it was called an HMO, and I thought it was great, because it was dirt cheap, had a low co-pay and only required that I get a referral before getting care, or really soon after. And the best part is, I didn’t have to pay taxes like this:
There’s some deductions, but DAMN!
To make a long post longer, I don’t understand why most of the people who cannot stand their insurance companies now want the same people who run the TSA and the IRS to run the freaking hospitals.
TW: Yes, I did look into moving across the water96.
Other Pablo,
Maher is just this side of irrelevant. French behavior regarding American and world interests has been the problem. I’m perfectly willing to give Sarkozy the benefit of some doubt until I see reason not to. Chirac will not be missed.
Been there, done that, and I certainly don’t regret it. But I’m not in any hurry to do it again.
I just read this; and then stood up at the computer and started clapping. Well done.
Incidentally, I think Maher is just a busybody who constantly looks for any angle just to complain. Kind of like a handful of hockey fans on the Internet complaining about this and that about the new NHL. For what it’s worth I remember on HBO’s little promo for their upcoming “season” there was a bit where a sweaty Maher was on a stage stating, “I’m pissed off only because nobody else is.” As if it doesn’t dawn on him that people are allowed to disagree and see things differently. Or even if they agree with him on whatever it is he’s pissed off about that they know how to take care of it better than impotent rage.
In any case, I like the little dig about the French not being fat at the end there. The perfect endpoint to essentially say, “Why won’t you take a hint, you stupid, stupid idiots!” I think Maher should go back to whatever it is he’s good at.
Pablo
Husband and I went to France in July 01 (honeymoon). It was a wonderful visit and I’ve looked forward to doing it again…especially now that a pro-American French conservative has been elected by a very comfortable margin.
Signals the French are beginning to let a little light in… changes my prediction on which EU member goes Islamist first.
But while a lot of the French people are pleasant, friendly and helpful … our ex-pat Brit guide was much more condescending … the French politicians/government/intellectisia have been steeped in elitism, bigotry and just plain corruption (Saddam owned ‘em, lock, stock and wine barrell).
I wouldn’t want to have any serious illness there or try and secure a mortgage (you have to cough up your medical records).
France is for France
Who should they be for? I saw the show you are quoting from and Maher doesn’t say that France is without problems, he simply says that it’s not a bad country in spite of what the conservatives in American try to tell you.
I am not trying to make anyone out to be a “rube,†I’m just suggesting that Americans visit this horrible place before taking Bill O’Reilly’s advice to hate it. If you have been there then you know that it’s a pretty nice place. Are you saying that there is absolutely nothing that we can learn from France?
Maher is not now nor was he ever funny. He always was a smarmy little shit who always “thought” he was smarter than thou. Fuck him and his insignificant little display of arrogance. He is irrelevant and of no consequence.
Pablo–You’re right. France is a very nice place. Beautiful country, beautiful women, great museums, etc. But, as Jeff pointed out, the study Maher was using is FUBAR’d.
And on a simpler level, comparing French (or just about any Western European) social program to what America offers is an apples to oranges comparison. These countries don’t make any real financial commitment to their military and national defense because the U.S. is their de facto protector. So instead of pouring billions into things like planes, tanks, battleships, etc., they’re spending their money on socialized healthcare, massive pension programs and unemployment benefits that allow people to go without a job for years at a time if they want.
And even with the massive financial headstart that they get by not investing significantly in their militaries, France and much of the rest of Western Europe is in serious trouble. The high rates of taxation needed to support these programs stifles growth and entrepreneurism. France’s unemployment rate is at about 9% and has not been below 8% for 20 years. The President of France would be hailed as a genius if that number dropped down to what is considered a recession in the U.S.
So yes, France is a nice place. But to say we should emulate its social programs is neither possible nor in the least bit desirable.
Nope!I’ll take nuclear power. Let’s build them and do what the French did; reduce energy production by fossil fuels from 71% to 39% in 25 years.
Now, faux Pablo, is there anything that France could learn from us? Perhaps some help with assimilating a certain group of immigrants?
Or air conditioning? We could help with that!
“Progressives” of Maher’s type are mind-numbingly simple creatures. They want their drugs and their no-strings sex, and for the government to take care of their problems for free if they should face (gulp!) negative consequences for their choices.
Whichever political wing promises to give them more access to such things gets their votes and support. In exchange, these narci-progs give public lip service to other agenda items about which they clearly give not one rat’s ass (like global warming and green issues) while leading their private lives of no-tomorrow gross consumption. Also, they agree to reflexively gain-say whatever positions the Other Side takes. So if the Other Side says that France is not a good example for the US, they write a piece for, say, Newsweek International citing scurrilous statistics that they have no hope of (or interest in) correctly interpreting.
Narcissists are absolutely entitled to their own interests. Let’s just clearly state what they are, and let’s not couch no-consequences hedonism in terms of Enlightenment philosophy, because all that does is show that they have not read much philosophy or history. For just one instance, the wholly-unevidenced assertion that
is curious to those who read Rousseau and Voltaire as rejecting what would become American-style democracy in favor of stronger modes of government which would somehow find it in their interests to institute policies favoring equality and justice. Also curious is Jefferson’s (if we are to regard Jefferson as the Foundingest Father of them all) omission of French Enlightenment philosophers from his statements naming his influences.
B-b-but the French hate the US! And so does Germany! And Canada! They’d never elect pro-EvilAmerica governments. You must be mistaken, and to prove it, I will get another poll from the UN.
One can choose to purchase insurance in France.
I don’t hate France, but in addition to the already mentioned chronic high unemployment, there is the fantastically anemic economic growth; indeed, it’s the worst in the EU27 and getting worse. I hope the new Pres can turn that around, but doubt it.
And I’m guessing the new/possibly faux Pablo didn’t visit France’s many Islamist no-go zones, as it appears the police don’t want to visit them in unarmored cars.
I also must note that the “why don’t you visit” argument is a lesser twist on the “chickenhawk” meme. Must I visit Darfur to know some nasty stuff is going on there?
BTW, how nice would France be if it had not been subsidized by the US security umbrella since WWII?
I’m tellin’ ya, alphie’s back!!!!!
Everyone welcome him, for who else could have written this:
While at the same time totally missing this:
Hey, balloons help with getting people healthy, don’t they?
Hmmmmmmm……..
Did anyone bother to tell this stupid bastard that the French just elected a guy who’s promising to reduce their taxes, control immigration, limit their freebies, go after criminals vigorously, work closely with America, and actually make them work for a living?
In other words…they just elected that dreaded thing of all Limosine Liberals like Maher and his ilk: A CONSERVATIVE!
So when Maher is saying : We should act more like the French, well sure thing clown, sounds like a Republican in 2008 to me vice one of the simpering morons your side is touting. I can deal with that…
And I’m guessing the new/possibly faux Pablo didn’t visit France’s many Islamist no-go zones, as it appears the police don’t want to visit them in unarmored cars.
Of course you are free to visit any part of any American city without a Marine escort. Try south-side Chicago. The French would argue that when people do find jobs they have more security and better benefits than a lot of America’s employed. Is minimum wage that much better than being jobless?
Let’s stick to the topic: Does France have some things that we could emulate? If you are saying “No†then that is a pretty narrow-minded conclusion.
Yes! Or perhaps we should pinch a thing or two from the Chinese.
France, like America, has its decent salt of the earth types, as well as its rude, condescending elitist bastards. Paris is a nice place to do things. The countryside is a better place to talk to people. Or perhaps it was just my 35-10 haircut. Meh. I’d rather go to Italy.
tw: study77
No, mid-80’s, actually.
And again I say: I was taking issue not with the French system, but with the WHO criteria. I brought up the issue of how I was using “choice” in my criticism of WHO criteria because you mistakenly intimated that I was talking about a choice of providers.
I was not.
Nor was I talking specifically about France.
I think we all agreed that France has nuclear power out the wazzoo and we would like to see that emulated. Can we move on?
Well, I’m more of a moderate extremist, but thanks anyway.
Not so fast…
Hmm. I did get in on a menage a trois in college. Does that count?
But excellent smackdown of the sniveling little bint, Maher, jeff. Glad to see you work in a nice Last Tango in Paris riff.
Faux pablo: Care to guess where I live? The cops aren’t turning up in armored cars, I assure you.
Good question. For that matter, why not have all of France go on unemployment? And again, how much of the French safety net would be left if France could not depend on the US security umbrella?
France has a high minimum wage, which is one reason it has high unemployment and riot zones.
Also, pablo seems not to have noticed that the PW posters like France’s nuclear power industry. Maybe he could spend his time convincing his non-right-wing friends to join us.
Show of hands, please—who has a position remotely similar to the one pseudopablo is describing? Anyone? Anyone here existentially opposed to all things French?
The French have my eternal gratitude for their treatment of a number of our great musicians when America had less enlightened views on race relations than we do today. Philharmonie is one of my favorite bands of all time. There’s a statue of Gen. Lafayette that’s walking distance from my home here in York. I read Last of the Mohicans and I wonder what the hell happened to the French military. And me likey the nuke plants. But France has some godawful economic policies, international priorities and cultural practices, too, and I don’t see why anyone should be frightened away from pointing them out because Mr. I’m-such-an-
iconoclast-hipster-
I’ve-become-totally-fucking-
predictable Maher will make you out as a blinkered xenophobe if you do. Being a slavish cheerleader for another country’s system might also be a hallmark of a lack of sophistication too. We have a lot we can learn, and do learn, from other countries.
I say we start with the Swiss, though.
Thanks for pointing out the heatwave figures, too, guys. Still boggles the mind—and mainly because of the good things I believe about the French.
….and she lost…
Hey, all of you smokers out there. Embrace the National Health System by quitting or you won’t be able to get your operation!
Smokers told to quit or surgery will be refused
Well, maybe the French will accomodate you…
Maher forgot to mention the car-be-ques.
How could he forget that with the way the french love to cook?
Has anyone here tried salmon cooked on the windshield of a burning Peugot or Renault. Try to duck the rocks while cooking.
Bill Maher is the type you just love to see wander into a fly-over country small town bar and make some sanctimonius, pseudo-intellectual comment about the local area thinking the locals are too stupid to understand what he is really saying. That Maher doesn’t visit these places is probably the reason he still has his own teeth and a nose the doesn’t sit on his face at a strange angle.
FAIR AND BALANCED: I like that France has toughened its anti-terrorist laws, even though France has been spying on its citizens for years. I am not so keen on the rat-infested prisons.
FauxPablaux:
Personally, I like a lot of French wine, particularly Burgundies, red and white. Love Champagne. Same with Alsacian Rieslings. Bordeaux is great but horrendously overpriced. Sauternnes can be exquisite.
Hope this helps.
PS Next time you comment please avoid sweeping generalizations and leave your straw man assembly kit at home. Thanks.
That said, I’m simply wild about Italian wines these days.
Okay, I’m done now.
Don’t have time to check on all these, but a quick Google showed that apparently French feminists and gays are being ignored if this is the case, because they don’t appear to recognize gay marriage,
and have what would be considered Draconian abortion laws by American feminists,
Odd that these aren’t political issues in such a wonderfully enlightened state.
One can choose to purchase an education in the US. Not sure where I’m going with this other than to ask faux Pablo why (and how, credibly) the words “free” and “healthcare” show up in the same left-leaning sentences with such frequency.
Out here in the real world healthcare (itself a bit of a oxymoron, but that’s another subject) costs. Plenty. Especially now that it’s everyone’s “right” to get three quarters of a million or one point five million or six million dollars worth of it. Depending on the “right” to live indefinitely.
So, faux Pablo…?
Anticipating your answer in time, kindly allow me this: I have a pair of friends each ten years into highly specialized medicine in private practice, with overheads and academic expenses commensurate with their substantial degrees. Both are considering new careers. Why?
Because American socialism—that entitlement Orwellianism—may bankrupt them. There is less and less freedom and diminished free market incentive to what they do so while they live on decent wages at the moment those wages highly disproportionate to their exposure. And they see HilaryCare on the horizon, neither of them, I might add, being terribly politically-minded.
Now, if that’s just the tip of the free medicine iceberg, one doesn’t have to make much of a step to at the least entertaining notions of the ruin 100% medical collectivism would wreak.
Does that sound sensible to you? I mean, when you consider that if you make a lousy grand a week in France you pay half of it to the government.
I’ll say it. I’d have no problem adopting France’s policy on abortion. Can you imagine the wailing that would result from Marcotte et al?
I can also say that French cuisine is perhaps the finest in the world, and I’ll swear that on my worn hardback copies of Julia and Jacques.
Plus, I loves me some nukular power. (sorry, being from GA, I’m one of Maher’s aformentioned “rubes”)
Let’s face it. The French are different.
They have traded higher unemployment for a higher minimum wage.
They have traded exorbitant taxation for a health care system that on the whole is only marginally better than ours.
That doesn’t mean we can’t adapt some of the French ideas to our on culture and it doesn’t mean America isn’t already using some of those same ideas.
The issue with people like Maher is that we are not France. We never will be. But if we were suddenly French… Maher would just move the target to Slovenia.
Maher and others also ignore the fact that historical American attitude toward the French is forever colored by their complete and appalling collapse in the face of the Nazi’s. The British were lucky to get out.
The French are not good teamates, they are unreliable allies.
They have some of the best military capabilities in Africa, but have avoided places like Darfur and Rwanda.
All swagger and style, but with the heart of a coward.
Let’s not forget the enlightened way the French treat prisoners, civilians and random hippies who happen to get in their way.
But hey, at least they didn’t put women’s underwear on their heads or make them pose wearing a dog leash!
Good things about France: Sophie Marceau and Brigitte Bardot (in her day). Decent art (although a disproportionate share of it was actually created by foreigners, e.g. Van Gogh and Picasso). Bread. Nuclear power.
French food (other than bread) and wine… meh. I prefer Italian food and Australian or Argentinian wine.
TW: Europe69 (pronounced “soixante-neuf”, I suppose).
Maher is plainly ignorant. Example: I was just in Lyon, France after their recent election. The papers, magazines and television revealed plenty of coverage regarding Sarkozy’s family, and the same goes for Royal, although as she is the loser there is less of it evident.
Also, Lyon is covered in graffitti. Much of it is political… do you think Maher would assert that the socialist supporters, who lost by a large margin, were no more guilty of such public defacement than conservative supporters? Probably. And he would be dead wrong. I could not find a single instance of anti-socialist graffitti in downtown Lyon. All of it was anti-Sarko and often obscene. If you want civil behavior, don’t look for it on the left.
Also French and very, very good: Melissa Theuriau
(Potentially NSFW)
Butt ugly, too.
Did you follow the links in that piece? Apparently being smoking hot is a requirement for French News Anchorettes.
I get the sinking feeling that Maher likes tits. Anyone else get that?
TW: two94. Yes, he prefers two of them per person.
I’m surprised nobody brought up the “we wouldn’t have gained independence without the French” argument. French assistance, of course, came when the nation was an absolute monarchy and was simply a cheap way for King Louis the Whateverth to poke the British in the eye.
And what was the first combat action the fledgling US Navy fought, after independence? Hint: it was not against the Barbary Pirates. Another hint: it happened right after France became a republic.
As soon as the French people got hold of their own country they couldn’t wait to begin preying upon American merchant shipping. Yeah, they’ve always been steadfast allies of ours.
Actually, I prefer German wine.
The French do make a very good beer in Alsace. They may not let me into Germany again for writing that, but it’s true.
Did some wine tasting in France …
but I’m a spoiled Californian, with a plethora of good to wonderful wines to fit any palate or wallet (amazing how really good two-buck Chuck is!)
Husband took me out for an early birthday dinner, and the perfect accompaniment to my pistachio-crusted rack of lamb (med-rare) was this exquisite Chardonnay. Too many Chardonnay’s have a tendency to be “oaky”…this one is makes one remember what it was that first made Chardonnays popular.
First, you will be shocked—shocked!—to discover that social issues came up in the French election.
Second, you will be shocked—shocked!—to discover that Royal made personal attacks on Sarkozy during the campaign.
Third, even if social issues had not come up, Maher (and faux pablo) are apparently not noticing that 85 percent turned out to reject the Socialist candidate.
From the last link:
Those who want Americans to learn something from the French should be careful what they wish for, lest they get it.
Which points up an interesting contradiction in les apologistes’ logic: we’re not supposed to blame the French Enlightenment for things that happened years later, but we’re supposed to give credit to today’s France for stuff that happened centuries ago?
For which we can thank the French. I love California wines but if you want to taste the apotheosis of the Chardonnay grape, you can’t surpass Montrachet. Sorry. Same can be said for Pinot Noir. Anything from Vosne Romanee still tops anything in the US, IMHO.
Yes, I do drink a lot of wine and have for 25 years. Trust me, it’d be a hell of a lot cheaper if I was addicted to cocaine.
If France were to lose the Security Council seat, we’d never be having this conversation, or at least it would be a very silly one to be having.
ok kelly, I admit I only know by reputation rather than experience the vintages one needs to secure a 2nd mortgage to indulge in.
One of the lottery inspired day dreams is to have a really extensive wine cellar.
::::sigh:::
One thing about CA is the consistency in producing an abundance of excellent wines affordable enough to train lots of palates.
Funny thing is…. there are only French wines today because of California grapevines. In a way…all French wine is really Californian!
That said, I’m going to seriously track down some Montrachet to sample.
Just what exactly is wrong with trains that go 300 kph? What is so horrible about effective mass transit
Nothing is horrible about mass transit and 300 kph trains. However, mass transit is much more feasible in Western Europe than it is in the US because each country comprises a much smaller area and has much higher population density. In small, densely populated areas, such as the Boston-DC corridor, mass transit makes sense and is economically feasible.
Here are the numbers: France comprises 260,558 sq/mi, whereas the lower 48 comprise 3,044,497. France has 8.5% of our area.
France’s population density, however, is 293 sq/mi, while we’re at 80, which is 27% of France’s.
To match France’s rail density, we’d have to build thousands of miles of rail to transport people who would rather pay roughly the same amount to fly. NYC to LA by air is about four hours. By train? Three or four days. No one has that kind of time.
Furthermore, our predilection for suburban sprawl makes mass transit highly inefficient. I have lived in cities like Madrid and NYC and Cali Colombia, where using the subway and trains makes perfect sense. Here in the Deep West, where everything is spread waaaay out, it’s a waste of time and money.
Count me in as one of the open minded few who think the French are not total wimps.
They did manage to sink the Rainbow Warrior.
Having been to Europe, I can tell you what any number of Euros think of the French: they’re a bunch of stuck-up pricks, who seriously believe that after God created the angels, He created the French…. to perfect the design.
Maher’s self-described libertarianism is primarily focused on eliminating hang-ups in his sex life and drug use. A true libertarian wouldn’t be found advocating for government-run healthcare. So, at the end of the day, he’s just a slutty “progressive.”
I liked him in the early ‘90s, but – as he’s grown older and probably has found it more difficult to pick up the ladies having to shell out the cash – he’s gone over the deep end.
Great job on this post, Jeff.
WRT the French:
Love the country… used to live on the French border and spent plenty of time in Paris and en route back & forth (stopped by plenty of gravesites of doughboys in forgotten cemetaries in the middle of the French countryside). I’ve found that the French people to be extremely friendly and fun. However, much could be said about Americans (in red or blue states) if only rubes like Maher & the French would take the time to get to know us.
And, is it any more xenophobic to not understand why the French do certain things (like, say serving coffee only in porcelain cups) than it is to hate McDonald’s (only because it’s American)?
And, when it comes to the intelligence of the French, two words – Jerry Lewis.
Heh. I’d forgotten that.
Better check your wine history, Darleen. The French have been growing grapes for several centuries before Thomas Jefferson was a gleam in his daddy’s eyes.
entre nous, my modest wine cellar of 300 or so bottles is 90%…high end California Cabs. A Sante.
While Maher is cheerleading for how we should be more like the French…meanwhile:
Wonder how Maher and his Limo Libs feel about that…
Thomas Jefferson: Whew!! I am stuffed! I could not eat one more bite of this french toast.
Ben Franklin: DIBS!!!
John Adams: Franklin! You fat fucking asshole! You’ve already had 11 pieces. Give someone else a chance, will you?
Ben Franklin: TOO LATE!
kelly, I don’t think Darleen was suggesting we taught the French how to make wine. Do your wine history volumes include an index item for Phylloxera vitifoliae?
We helped save French vineyards, but to be fair it was our aphids that caused the trouble to begin with…
Kelly,
That’s not what she meant, and it was obvious to me, she’s talking about the disease-resistant stock they use now was developed in California (and Texas, as well). French vinyards were nearly wiped out not that long ago.
Ah, well, DrSteve beat me to it… and remembered the disease, too.
:^þ
First, in Idaho they aren’t called orgies, they’re called stampedes because of all the property damage.
Second, remind me again how many old men and women the French national health sytstem killed in that heat wave?
Stampede.
Good one.
Now listen up. Our cattle drives through downtown are orderly. We haven’t lost any citizens due to stampedes for at least three years.
Yes. And apologies if my tone came off too “Miles Crane”. Interestingly, even though the Euros have been growing grapes way longer than us cretins, I would wager we have still had a significant impact on the Euros due to our…technology winemaking-wise. Cheers, all.
On the subject of wine—as a native Californian, I’m pleased to note that local varietal wines are consistently at the top of their class.
Too bad we can’t seem to blend worth a damn.
Burgundy (combinations of Chardonnay, Aligote, Pinot Noir, and Gamay), Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenere), white Bordeaux (Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle), Chianti (Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Malvasia bianca), Valpolicella (Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Molinara), and others are better frequently better wines than the varietals from whence they are derived—which is the reason that the specific blends were developed over many centuries.
So we’re up to “nuclear power, bread, cheese, and wine blends—emulate the French” v. “corrupt foreign policy, role of military, economic growth rates, immigrant assimilation, tax rates, health care for baked elderly, winning friends and influencing people, role of unions, tact towards Eastern Europe, unemployment rates, control of crime, and hygiene—do not emulate”.
I come back after a year or so to see if my favorite online humorist has written anything other than boring treatises and I come on this.
Really, you sound like you’re missing sleep.
This is perfectly average Maher – no it’s milder Maher than usual – there’s nothing here worth getting your panties in a twist.
I wish you’d go back to humor. You’re a hell of a lot funnier than Maher when you don’t sound like you’re on the rag. Chill.
It makes you angry that Maher makes fun of conservatives?
Jesus, he’s a comedian, he needs a foil. It’s not his job to be careful.
The best revenge on liberal comedians is to be funnier than they are, not to sound like you resent every jibe.
Now you’re being funny.
Looks like somebody is disappointed by the flavor of the free ice cream. Oh well.
Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way back out, m’kay, Josh?
Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way back out, m’kay, Josh?
Did Jeff change his name to Sean? Do you feed Jeff’s cats too when no one is looking?
3 words: Van de Velde
Josh:
Thanks for showing up after a year away, vomiting up your snarky little personal definition for the entire blog and then sniping about Jeff’s lack of humor.
Thus, he is a monkey who should be dancing for your amusement and the monkey didn’t gyrate with enough silliness in the above post to suit your needs.
Hey, Jeff! This would be one of the visitors who went away. Are you sure you want him back? Man, no wonder you might be burned out with this crap.
BTW Josh; Sean was making a comment when he suggested you bolt, thereby sparing the blog any more whining. Don’t mistake him for Jeff who holds the ultimate nuclear option.
**FOOOOM!!!**
I read the original article and it is, no surprise, a waste of time.
I am so grateful to Jeff for reading the useless opinions of a PBS has-been. I get to enjoy a merciless bit of wit – in this case topped with a tart dash of Francobash – and then get back to work refreshed.
And now for some caffeine.
And, yes, BJ, I’ll submit Francobash to research. I envision a burger-piecrust-cheese-onion thing with a side of MD 20-20 in a paper cup. It could be part our Valueless Meals â„¢ line.
“Or perhaps it was just my 35-10 haircut.”
Pablo,
You’re dating yourself. It’s “my 36-2903 haircut.”
Don’t forget the in development “Krautangst” consisting of charred venison, sauerkraut, skunky ale and a sprinkling of rock salt.
We’ll change the name to “Les Valueless eine Mealsonâ„¢” and go for the Euro-trash market.
Thing is, Van de Velde is a good guy. Sure, he collapsed like nothing you’ve ever seen, but when he gets asked about it (which, of course, the TV people have to do every friggin’ year), he’s always had a good sense of humor about it.