The French Have Better Presidents

16. There is an awful lot of latent sympathy for Nicolas Sarkozy. Yes, his wife left him and while they both had extramarital affairs, it's a well-known fact that Sarkozy is the father of philanderers and likely drove Cecilia Sarkozy to infidelity (not that this excuses her). Sarkozy was linked with a very attractive French tv journalist just a couple weeks ago, The reasons we're hearing about Carla Bruni/Sarkozy in the US press and not his other affairs is because 1. France has privacy laws that limit how much the French press can report on his love life and 2. Carla Bruni, or at least her ex-boyfriends (Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton), is the first one we'd know of in the U.S. Incidentally, it's a pretty big deal in France that the French news is reporting on this romance, usually we hear of these in the UK & internet press. Finally, Carla Bruni is certainly not the first - nor will be the last - romance that Sarkozy has. Save your sympathy, people.

Posted at 4:55PM on Dec 17th 2007 by US expat in France

17. Forgot to mention, Nicolas Sarkozy first met Cecilia when he, as mayor of a French city, OFFICIATED at HER wedding to someone else. Real classy.

Posted at 4:58PM on Dec 17th 2007 by US expat in France

18. Kind of reminds me of LA Mayor Villaraigosa and his diddling a Telemundo reporter who was exiled to the IE when it came out in the open. Mdme. V didn't move into the Mayor's place with him either. She was his beard during the election - how much $ did it cost Antonio to keep her from splitting before he nailed down the office? As for this issue of Clinton behaving poorly just before he left office, Mrs. Clinton condoned it until it got to be a national scandal and threatened her own political ambitions.

Posted at 5:20PM on Dec 17th 2007 by IuvLA

19. TMZ - stay out of politics! If you keep this kind of commentary up, you'll lose friends and fans quickly!

Posted at 7:11PM on Dec 17th 2007 by DBM1963

20. The movie Michael Douglas was in was called The American President and he wasn't divorced there...he was a widow.

Posted at 8:15PM on Dec 17th 2007 by Jem

21. DBM1963 - You call the shots now? Didn't know that Harvey sold TMZ to you. Political problems grow when they're ignored by the press. Look at the last 8 years. TMZ appears to be apolitical, but is free to skirt around all topics, with the focus mainly on celebrity. I would presume that they, and especially they, do not back censorship, particularly of the written word.

Posted at 7:01AM on Dec 18th 2007 by No Censorship.

22. The press importantly provides checks and balance to public figures and their actions. It is a mirror on public opionion.

Posted at 7:03AM on Dec 18th 2007 by No Censorship.

23. How distasteful. A mid-life crisis while in public office! Next week he'll have a high schooler on his arm.

Posted at 3:26PM on Dec 18th 2007 by paisley40

24. Ce fut vraiment très plaisant et instructif de voir les commentaires et opinions des Américains sur la France et notre Président.
Pour ma part, sa vie privée avec Carla ne me regarde pas même si c'est relativement impossible d'y échapper avec la presse française.
Désolée de ne pas écrire en anglais.

Posted at 11:21AM on Jan 12th 2008 by Française